WORKS to improve highways and repair road surfaces at a busy junction on the A6 in Leicester are set to get under way later this month.
Leicester City Council is planning a range of improvements to the Abbey Lane junction and parts of the adjoining Beaumont Leys Lane and Corporation Road.
The work will be the latest phase of an ongoing £3million programme of investment in improvements on part of the busy A6, covering St Margaret’s Way and Abbey Lane, backed by Government cash from the Transforming Cities Fund.
Works will include traffic signal renewal and full resurfacing of the main junction, the creation of a new cycle lane on Corporation Road, the extension of the existing cycle lane on Beaumont Leys Lane from Wolsey House Primary School to the A6 Abbey Lane Junction, and full resurfacing of Beaumont Leys Lane between Halifax Drive and Abbey Lane.
Footpaths on Abbey Lane, between Corporation Road and Exploration Drive will also be improved.
Work is due to begin on Corporation Road from Monday 25 March for around nine weeks, before moving onto Beaumont Leys Lane. These initial works, to create the new cycle lanes, will require some lane closures and temporary one-way restriction to be in place.
Clearly signed diversions will be in place. Some bus routes will need to be diverted and one bus stop will be temporarily relocated from Beaumont Leys Lane onto Halifax Drive.
Access to homes and businesses will be maintained.
Resurfacing works, which are expected to take place this summer, will require full road closures. More details will be publicised nearer the time.
In all, the works are expected to take around six months to complete.
The works follow on from improvements recently completed at the junction of the A6 Abbey Lane and Thurcaston Road.
The new cycle lanes will also link to improvements on Parker Drive and Blackbird Road, provide a new continuous 2.5km safe route for walkers, wheelers and cyclists.
City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “It is vital that we continue to invest in encouraging more people to make the shift to cleaner, greener, healthier and more sustainable transport, not least because traffic is responsible for a quarter of our city’s carbon emissions.
“Along with the expansion of the citywide network of safe routes for pedestrians and cyclists, major maintenance on this important route will result in benefits for everyone who uses it, whether by bike, bus or car.”
Leicester City Council is carrying out an ambitious citywide programme of investment in sustainable transport, backed by £40million of Government cash from the Transforming Cities Fund.
The ambitious package of works is focused on major sustainable transport improvements to provide attractive choices for people to get to work, education, shops and other local facilities to help support the city’s growth and deliver on the council’s climate emergency, air quality and health living commitments. This includes the development of new bus priority corridors linking the city centre to city neighbourhoods and suburbs to help improve bus journey times and the reliability of services.