ONE lane of a busy Leicester road is due to close temporarily to enable work on major scheme to create a new hotel and multi-storey car park on land near the Leicester Tigers’ stadium.
The rugby club is transforming the 1.7-acre former Granby Halls site into a five-storey, 191-room new hotel complex, while at the rear of the stadium a new 800-space multi-story car park is being built.
Leicester City Council will be involved in traffic management during the construction phase, ensuring traffic on Welford Road and Aylestone Road – both key arterial routes into and out of the city – continues to flow.
From Monday, May 11, there will be a single lane closure on Welford Road to allow construction vehicles to access the site. The lane closure will remain in place for the duration of the works, except on any match days which take place, when the lane will be closed to all vehicles.
The scheme should take around two years to complete, and will also include new cycleways and footpaths linked to the city council’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) projects to improve connectivity between key sites around the city.
The new car park will be for use both by visitors to the rugby club and staff and visitors to the neighbouring Leicester Royal Infirmary. It will replace the NCP parking which until recently has been available on the land at the former Granby Halls site on the corner of Aylestone Road and Welford Road.
Director of City Highways at Leicester City Council, Martin Fletcher, said: “This is a major project being carried out by the Leicester Tigers, which will transform this site.
“As the local authority we are responsible for the traffic management around the site during the construction phase, to make sure it causes as little disruption to the surrounding areas as possible. We’ve been working with contractors involved to ensure that there’s as little impact as possible on the road system.
“When completed, the scheme will also include new footpaths and cycleways, connecting the hotel to the city and making sure it is easily accessible for all forms of transport.”
Updates on all traffic and travel in the city is available from Leicester City Council’s Area Traffic Control on Twitter at: @ATCLeicester
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