A JUNCTION in a residential area is being altered to prevent motorists turning illegally into a one-way street.
Work is due to be carried out at the junction of Lower Keyham Lane and Main Street, in Humberstone Village, as part of wider works to improve road safety in the area.
It follows calls for action to tackle speeding drivers, rat-running and inconsiderate parking in and around Main Street, which involved a series of public meetings, patch walks and traffic surveys in the area.
The city council is due to report back to residents about the results of a recent formal consultation on planned safety improvements, which showed widespread support both for a number of new traffic-calming features, and work to reinforce existing safety measures within a zone covered by a 20mph speed limit.
Temporary barriers have been in place for a number of weeks to prevent motorists from turning left from Lower Keyham Lane into Main Street, which is a one-way street in the opposite direction. Work will take place over the school half-term holidays to replace the barriers with a permanent build-out of the kerb line to prevent the manoeuvre.
Leicester City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “We’ve had a number of meetings with residents to try to address the concerns they’ve raised over rat-running, speeding drivers, unrestricted and illegal parking and other traffic problems in and around Humberstone Village.
“We are due to report back with the full results of a consultation which ended before Christmas, but there is considerable support for these safety measures.
“The temporary barrier at the junction of Lower Keyham Lane and Main Street has had the desired effect of stopping the illegal left-hand turns, so it’s straightforward enough for us to make that change permanent but altering the kerb line.
“We hope to be able to carry out the other more major alterations which people have requested over the Easter holidays.”
The wider changes include installing speed cushions and two-hour limited parking bays, a raised zebra crossing, and narrowing with a contraflow cycle lane at the junction of Main Street and Lower Keyham Lane, subject to the formal traffic regulation orders needed for the work being completed.
The area would also be re-designated as a 20mph zone. Other proposed measures include speed cushions in Steins Lane, and a traffic island at the junction of Tennis Court Drive and Stanley Drive, and a build-out/island at the junction of Main Street and Vicarage Lane.
An existing 20mph speed limit covers Main Street, Steins Lane, Vicarage Lane between Main Street and Lobbs Wood Close, and Tennis Court Drive between Main Street and Stanley Drive.
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