Work to construct a new outward bus lane as part of a £16 million scheme tackling traffic congestion between Leeds and Bradford is due to start tomorrow.
The A647 Bus Priority Corridor construction works features a raft of measures including replacing the current high occupancy vehicle lanes on Stanningley Road with extended bus lanes and further bus priority measures at traffic signals.
The scheme affects Stanningley, Pudsey, Bramley and Armley and includes:
• Bus lanes along Bradford Road between Dawsons Corner and Thornbury Gyratory
• Bus lane westbound on Armley Road
• The conversion of the existing High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes along Stanningley Road to a bus lane
• New pedestrian crossings and cycle lanes
• Improvements to various signalised junctions to improve crossing facilities and junction performance to allow bus priority, including Ledgard Way junction, Pickering Street junctions, Swinnow Lane junction and Hough Lane junction
• Introduction of a bus gate at the end of the new bus lane on Stanningley Road to give bus priority
• The relocation and reorganisation of bus stops along the corridor to improve the passenger experienceWhat’s happening? Armley Road
Connecting Leeds has confirmed that work will start tomorrow, Monday 26 October 2020, on the outward bus lane from Leeds and first activities will take place around Armley Road.
For approximately 18 months the Low Moor green space will be fenced off to allow preparatory work to take place. The public footpath that crosses Low Moor from Ley Lane to Armley Road will be closed for the curation of the works. The pedestrian diversion routes are via Abbot Court and Westerly Croft.
Site clearance including the removal of trees, will begin at Low Moor from mid November.
A Connecting Leeds spokesperson said:
“Three new trees will be planted to replace each lost tree, with the majority of the new trees being planted at Low Moor. Works in this area are expected to finish in July 2022.
“WhilE we construct the outbound bus lane on Armley Road our working area will include the adjacent footway and cycleway. This will result in the footway being closed and pedestrians redirected to the footway on the opposite side of Armley Road.
“In order to create a temporary cycle lane the traffic will be moved slightly across.”
To do this, three central reservations islands on Armley Road will be removed.
The outbound bus stop on Armley Road, opposite Pickering Street, will be closed as this also falls within our work area for the bus lane construction. This closure will be in place from 17 November 2020 for approximately 18 months.
The nearest alternative stops are towards Armley Prison and Branch Road.
From 9 November to 20 November overnight works will take place Monday to Friday, 7pm to 6am, to remove two of the central reservation islands and undertake ducting works.
During the weekend of 14/15 November workmen will be removing the third island between 7.30am and 3pm. A spokesperson added:
“It cannot be done at night due to the proximity of the island to the Ledgard Way junction, which prevents temporary lights being used.
“Instead the work will be undertaken using Stop/Go boards. To carry out this work safely the inbound bus stop on Armley Road at Canal Road will be temporarily closed whilst works take place. From 20 November, the traffic is pushed across to its temporary running state. The lanes will be narrower but we don’t expect this to cause any significant traffic disruption. Traffic levels will be monitored by our Network Management team.”
Work was originally due to start earlier in the summer but was delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. A report published in February by West Yorkshire Combined Authority officers added:
“The scheme aims to promote modal shift from car to bus, taking up to 210,000 car kilometres off the road network following completion, helping to reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions on a key transport corridor with adjacent residential and education uses.”
WYCA hopes the scheme can also reduce bus journey times, make bus stops more accessible and lead to a ‘reduction in the severity of accidents’.
This might put more traffic onto Tong Road inwards and out wards. Why not leave well alone. Or do you like to spend more money on motorists than other things like cleaning the streets and housing
This is an absolute joke !!!
Leeds city council certainly know how to waste tax payers money !
Building a cycle lane for hundreds of thousands of pounds that no one uses because they just cycle in the pavement!
Then dig it up for a bus lane that has 4 busses using it ! Oh and then send the poor pedestrian in a mile hike up a steep hill just to get to work so that we can pay our taxes for you to waste
Your a joke leeds city council!!!
But hey it’s ok because you will plant 3trees to replace the perfectly healthy trees that you yanked out of the ground that have stood there for over 40 years
Shame on you
At the modified junction of Ledgard way there has always bee a very wide path next to the boundary wall of the club bowling green .Some of this path could have been used to widen & lengthen the left turning lane letting 2 or 3 more cars into that lane earlier freeing up the lane heading straightforward .