A SERIES of overnight works are due to take place next week on a major road project connecting Putney Road West to Aylestone Road and Saffron Lane.
Work has been ongoing since last summer on the £5m link road scheme joining Putney Road West to Aylestone Road and Saffron Lane.
The project will create a shorter route for traffic moving from east to west between the Welford Road area and Saffron Lane / Aylestone Road, as well as cutting pollution and deterring rat running through the smaller residential streets in Knighton Fields.
From Monday, January 31, the work will focus on resurfacing the junction of Aylestone Road and Saffron Lane, meaning five nights of overnight road closures, taking place between 8pm and 6am.
Saffron Lane inbound and outbound will be closed most nights, and Aylestone Road outbound will also be heavily affected. Traffic will be diverted via Welford Road, Knighton Lane East and Saffron Lane.
Aylestone Road inbound will also close to traffic overnight on Thursday, February 3, Friday, February 4, and Saturday, February 5, between 8pm and 6am.
Bus services using that route will also be affected. Outbound and inbound services to Saffron Lane will be diverted via Knighton Lane East and Welford Road from 8pm each evening.
Aylestone Road outbound services will use a similar diversion, while services city-bound will divert via Grace Road, Knighton Lane East and Welford Road on the Thursday and Friday night.
The Putney Road West link road scheme is designed to help to relieve congestion on the southern central ring road network, particularly around the Leicester Tigers Football Club ground and the approaches from Welford Road, Aylestone Road and Upperton Road.
The link road, which is part funded by £3.2million from the Government’s National Productivity Investment Fund, is also designed to support economic growth by improving access for businesses in the Freemen’s Common Industrial Estate.
Detailed modelling has shown that the scheme will save around 340 tonnes of CO2 each year.
The project also features high-quality cycling and walking links which are being built in at the same time to improve connectivity, including a link to the new University of Leicester Freemen’s Common Campus at Welford Road, and also to link with the proposed Transforming Cities funded cycleways connecting Aylestone Road to Saffron Lane.
A new pedestrian and cycle super-crossing over Aylestone Road will also be installed for use by Leicester City Football Club fans to get to the stadium on matchdays.
The complementary sustainable transport works will cost £2.9m, funded through existing approved budgets fed by the Government’s Department for Transport grants.
Leicester Deputy City Mayor for Environment and Transportation, Cllr Adam Clarke, said: “Work has been progressing well over the last six months, and we are now at the stage of needing to resurface that section of the junction and carriageway.
“Overnight closures mean traffic will be able to continue as normal during the morning and afternoon rush hour, which will help to keep the road network moving.”
Contractors Balfour Beatty are carrying out the scheme, with is expected be completed later this summer.
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