Demolition could see years of chaos
THE controversial proposal to demolish Birmingham’s Birchfield flyover in Perry Barr could cause two years of traffic disruption, it has emerged.
Ward representative Cllr Jon Hunt (Lib Dem) fears the temporary road diversions put in place would be inadequate.
He said: “We had a ward meeting last week where various people were talking about the big transport projects for Perry Barr including the proposed demolition of the flyover.
“Startling information came out of it which is if they take out the flyover we would have two years of disruption on the roads because of the diversions put it.
“Frankly, local people have very little confidence that would be adequate.
“There would effectively be no access from the north, it would cut off a large chunk of the city.”
The idea, which has not been approved at this stage, has been touted as part of the £523 million regeneration of Perry Barr.
The main component of the pro- ject is to deliver the athletes’ village on the former Birmingham City University campus in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
The site will accommodate more than 6,000 athletes and officials for the event and then provide 1,400 permanent homes afterwards.
But significant improvements to local transport infrastructure are needed. The proposal to demolish the flyover, along with another idea to fill in the underpass further down at Aston Lane and Birch- field, was revealed by the council in June. Changes will see improvements to the Birchfield Road Roundabout with the provision of a new signalised junction together with the possible removal of the Birchfield Underpass.
It will also include changes to the Perry Barr Gyratory to reconfigure the A34/A453 junction to remove traffic from the section of the A453 fronting the former Birmingham City University site, including the removal of the Birchfield Flyover.