Details on major road and infrastructure schemes in West Yorkshire have been revealed, including the start date of a plan to pedestrianise swathes of Bradford city centre.
The Government’s £830m City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement for the area part of the West Yorkshire devolution deal. More details on what the money will be spent on have now been announced, with £200m going towards the creation of a long-planned mass transit system that will link up cities and towns across the region.
The package includes the funding for some previously announced Bradford city centre schemes, including works to pedestrianise Hall Ings, create a new entrance to Bradford Interchange and create a new park and ride in South Bradford are expected to start early next year.
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And the development of a new segregated cycle lane from the city centre down Thornton Road is expected to start this November.
The four projects were first announced in 2020 as part of the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund. They are expected to all be completed by the first half of 2024.
The transport settlement announcement, made yesterday morning, also includes detail of a number of schemes to boost bus travel and cycling in Bradford. The Government funding also includes cash to improve bus and cycle corridors.
In Bradford a temporary cycle lane introduced on Wakefield Road at the start of the Covid pandemic will be “improved and made permanent”. New bus priority measures will also be introduced on the busy road.
This work is expected to start in August 2024 and run until March 2027.
Bus route improvement schemes including new bus lanes, bus gates and junction modifications will be introduced at sites including Westgate, Drewton Road, Lumb Lane, Bolton Road and Leeds Road. The start date for this work is September 2024.
New bus priority measures and cycle lanes will be introduced on Kings Road and Canal Road from January 2026. A repair scheme to fix defects on Bradford Interchange’s bus carriageway is scheduled to start next month.
A Bradford Council spokesman said: “With petrol and diesel prices running at just below £2 per litre, more sustainable transport options will help local people reduce their burgeoning fuel bills. The investment will look to upgrade Wakefield Road with dedicated streamlined bus lanes and a high-quality segregated cycle lane from Dudley Hill to Bradford city centre.
“This will link to existing upgrades on Tong Street offering continuous sustainable transport connections from Holme Wood. The programme will also enable improvements to the Kings Road corridor to create high quality public transport and cycle lanes linking Five Lane Ends and new developments in Bolton Wood to Bradford city centre.”
Coun Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “This programme of work builds on existing projects designed to upgrade the district’s transport network and tackle the climate crisis. Switching to more sustainable travel will improve air quality, people’s fitness levels and the quality of local environments.
“Moving to greener more active forms of transport also makes significant contributions towards becoming less reliant on fossil fuels and helps reduce the impacts of the cost of living crisis.”
Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, added: “We are committed to making it easier for people to travel around the region, on foot, by bike and public transport, connecting people with job and training opportunities though accessible, attractive and cleaner transport.
“The £830 million investment will help us deliver a transformational programme of new infrastructure, let us take forward our plans for a new mass transit system and is a further step towards building a transport network that the people of West Yorkshire deserve.”
