West Leeds residents can have their say on the latest stage of proposals to improve the bus network between Bradford and Leeds.
The proposals cut through the heart of the west of the city, affecting Thornbury, parts of Pudsey, Stanningley, Bramley and Armley.
Leeds City Council has set a target of doubling the current 250,000 bus trips made in the city per day within 10 years and is wanting to hear people’s views on plans to introduce new infrastructure, including bus priority measures.
Detailed proposals have this week been unveiled following an initial consultation in February. Proposals include new bus lanes and cycle lanes, improved footways, better pedestrian crossings and junction upgrades.
A consultation document released by the council says:
“Together, our proposals are capable of reducing bus journey times by up to 15 minutes at peak times, making bus journeys more reliable and attractive for the 12,000 people who travel along the route by bus each day.”
Details of the consultation can be found here.
There are six main stretches of road in West Leeds earmarked for improvements, including: Bradford Road, between Gain Lane and Ederoyd Grove; Dawsons Corner Junction; Stanningley Road junction with Hough Lane; Stanningley Road, between Bramley Town End and Armley Ridge Road; Armley Road between Ledgard Way and Pickering Street; and Armley Road and Canal Street.
People are being urged to give their opinions on the latest proposals in order to shape final plans for improvements.
Here are the proposals in detail, with links through to more information:
Dawsons Corner Junction
The council says their proposals will make journeys for all users an average of four minutes quicker.
Proposals include:
- Create a new, larger junction controlled by traffic lights, with better pedestrian and cycle facilities. Providing dedicated lanes for left and right turns will enable traffic to flow more freely.
- Introduce a new westbound bus lane on the Bradford Road approach to the junction, to ensure buses are not affected by day-to-day variation in traffic flows. This will end before the Owlcotes Lane exit from New Pudsey Station.
- Introduce new pedestrian and cycle crossing facilities on all approach roads. In addition, a new pedestrian and cycle route will be introduced through the centre of the junction, between Bradford Road (west) and the Ring Road (south), improving links to New Pudsey Station.
View all the details and comment here.
Bradford Road, between Gain Lane and Ederoyd Grove
The council says proposals will help to eliminate bus delays of up to 10 minutes for services on this stretch of road.
Proposals include converting the left lane in each direction to a bus lane and restrict on-street parking during the hours the bus lane is operational.
View the proposals in full and comment here.
Stanningley Road junction with Hough Lane
In a bid to save two minutes’ bus journey time, proposals include:
- Remove one on-street parking space at the stop line and mark out the approach to the junction as two lanes, preventing right turning traffic from blocking traffic going straight ahead.
- Introduce the latest technology to improve detection and coordinate the traffic lights in response to changing traffic and pedestrian flows. Similar new technology will be introduced at the Stanningley Road junction with Swinnow Lane to co-ordinate movements between the junctions and provide buses with priority through the traffic lights.
Stanningley Road, between Bramley Town End and Armley Ridge Road
In a bid to save five minutes’ journey time for all traffic and the elimination of bus delays of up to 15 minutes, proposals include:
- Convert the ‘2+’ lane to a bus lane along the entire length and extend the new bus lane from the Town End roundabout to the end of the dual carriageway.
- Upgrade traffic lights on Stanningley Bypass and Henconner Lane to reduce queuing back to Town End Roundabout. No changes proposed at Town End Roundabout itself.
The report adds:
“Surveys show one in three vehicles using the ‘2+’ lane are doing so illegally and enforcement by the police has not been effective. This delays all traffic as motorists using the right lane are forced to give way to traffic merging at the end of the ‘2+’ lane section.”
The cycle superhighway will be untouched.
View the proposals in full – and comment – here</strong>.
Armley Road between Ledgard Way and Pickering Street
Proposals up for consultation aim to make average journey being four to five minutes quicker for all traffic, a higher quality pedestrian environment and a new gateway to Armley.
Proposals include:
- Ban certain turning movements at the junction to simplify the traffic lights and give more ‘green time’ to traffic on Armley Road and Stanningley Road. This will also enable more direct crossing facilities to be provided, widening of the pavement and the provision of a cycle track for outbound cyclists.
- Widen into the grass bank along Armley Road to provide a new outbound bus lane on approach to the junction.
- Convert Pickering Street to two-way between Canal Road and Armley Road in order to accommodate those turning movements displaced from Ledgard Way.
View the proposals in full and comment here.
Armley Road and Canal Street
The proposals will eliminate bus delays of up to 18 minutes:
- Widen into the grass bank along Armley Road to provide a new outbound bus lane from beyond the retail park.
- Introduce latest technology to improve detection and coordinate traffic lights in response to changing traffic flows.
More information and comments here.
To have your say on these plans at this stage of the design, submit your comments by 14th December 2018.
Then section between Bramley Town End and Armley Ridge Road, we currently have excessive traffic despite the Police and the Police commissioners office with LCC highways erecting signage to restrict vehicles driving through our estate. This proposal will only increase the problem, vehicles currently use Armley Grange Drive as a “rat run” between Stanningley Road and Green Hill Road. with complete impunity the Police can’t enforce the signage now so please explain how you plan to STOP the “rat run” with these new plans ?
Why all the effort into the Leeds Bradford corridor? Cycle Super Highway, FTR buses (remember those?!), now bus improvements. What about all if us who live in North, West and South Leeds?
re the plan for the 2plus lane on the stanningley bypass I have 2 points to make first due to the so called cycle super highway the width of the road has been reduced so that it creates congestion due to the bus stops and secondly why should be people who use the 2 plus lane legally be penalised by the selfish people who use it illegally surely if the rules were enforced by the relevant agencies the problem of illegal use would end Its about time LCC looked at the congestion caused by the senseless actions and so called solutions they have adopted
I really can’t understand how reducing the number of lanes will aid the better flow of traffic. If cars are parked on Bradford road in either direction the traffic backs up along the ring road , Dick Lane etc. I live in Farsley and work in Halifax so I use these routes daily and see very few buses so creating a bus lane just restricts the lanes that other vehicles can use adding to the already congested routes between the A65 Horsforth and Dawson’s Corner.
More effort should be made to remove bottle necks that are the bane of commuters life’s , this will lead to less crawling traffic emitting less pollution.
Then can someone come up with a fix for the 91 bus service from headingley to bramley