Major revamp of city junction is completed
LAST PIECE OF £10.4 MILLION, 16-MONTH PROJECT
A £10.4 MILLION programme of improvements to a Leicester road junction and its connecting roads is now complete.
Work to reconfigure and revamp the Fiveways junction linking Blackbird Road, Woodgate, Fosse Road North, Groby Road and Buckminster Road was completed in autumn last year.
Now, the final phase of work in Woodgate and Northgate Street is also complete.
The city council said the 16-month scheme had made the junction simpler for motorists, easier for pedestrians to cross, safer for cyclists and improved the important route for buses.
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: “For many years, Fiveways had been one of the most confusing junctions in the city.
“It was complicated for motorists, a daunting proposition for cyclists and a pinch point causing delays for bus services.
“This major investment has simplified the junction for drivers, made it much safer for pedestrians and cyclists and will allow buses to move more quickly along this route, as well as making the area a more attractive place for residents.
“The ambitious programme of improvements will also help ensure this busy and important part of our transport network is able to accommodate the city’s predicted growth for decades to come.”
Martin Fletcher, council director of highways, said: “We’re very grateful to the public for bearing with us while we delivered this complex and ambitious improvement scheme.
“We’ve worked to keep disruption and road closures to a minimum and I’m pleased that we’ve been able to complete the programme of work on schedule.
“The investment in Fiveways and its connecting roads completes what is a major set of traffic improvements across the whole of the Leicester north-west area. This is the final piece of that jigsaw.”
The A50/Fiveways improvement scheme cost £10.4 million and was paid for through a mix of Enterprise Zone funding through Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) and the Transforming Cities Fund.
The city council’s successful bid for £32 million from the fund for a package of work focused on sustainable transport improvements, including improved routes for walking, cycling and buses.
Other schemes paid for with Transforming Cities Fund money have included improvements to Anstey Lane, Abbey Park Road, and the A6 St Margaret’s Way and Abbey Lane. The council said it also followed on work carried out since 2018, as part of the Leicester NorthWest Major Transport Project, which has improved links between the city, key developments such as Ashton Green, and to the city’s Western bypass, the A46 and A50 corridors.
It is anticipated that this will help reduce the amount of traffic using Woodgate and Frog Island – at the heart of the Waterside development – by up to 30 per cent in coming years, helping to significantly improve traffic flow and cut congestion.
■ People can now have their say on designs for new artwork to decorate hoardings opposite Woodgate Resources Centre by choosing their favourite of three designs by Leicester-based street art specialists Graffwerk.
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