Ringroad updates
Ring Road Update July 2008
Work is progressing on the construction of the new ring road with most of the effort being concentrated in recent weeks at the Arboretum junction and Day Street. However, this does not mean other areas have been neglected and work elsewhere has been going on.
The council and the contractor are working hard to ensure that all of the main carriageways and footways are completed before Christmas, although some sections of road may well be finished earlier. Some minor completion work may take a little longer.
Pleck Road
Work at the Rollingmill Street/Ida Road and Bridgeman Street/Moat Road junctions is due to recommence shortly once abandoned electricity cables have been ‘spiked’ to prove them dead.
Pleck Road/Wolverhampton Road Junction
National Grid Gas is still working on the diversion of major mains at the top of Pleck Road. Once completed work will recommence at this junction.
Blue Lane West
Work is being frustrated by problems in completing gas main diversions. The existing mains are in the carriageway of Blue Lane West and until National Grid Gas is able to complete the diversion work the contractor cannot start to dig up the old road. It is hoped the problems will be resolved shortly.
Court Way/Stafford Street/Day Street/Wisemore
Recent traffic management on Stafford Street, which utilised the bus lane for town centre traffic, has now been removed. This arrangement enabled the widening and resurfacing of Day Street and Wisemore with the minimum disruption to traffic.
The next phase of work in this area is to reconstruct the junction of Stafford Street and Littleton Street East and the current traffic management on Stafford Street is part of this work. Over the coming weeks the traffic management will be moved around so that all of the junction can be rebuilt.
The reconfigured junction will allow traffic on the ring road to flow directly from Court Way into Littleton Street and vice-versa, removing the inconvenient detour around Day Street and Wisemore.
Littleton Street West
Work is ongoing on this stretch of the route to construct a new carriageway to the north of the existing. Once complete this will carry eastbound traffic over the new railway bridge towards the Arboretum junction.
Hatherton Street/Littleton Street Junction
The deck level of the new railway bridge is set to meet the clearances required by Network Rail and this has led to a need to raise the road levels at the Hatherton Street junction. Because of this it is not possible to keep the junction fully open during the upgrading work and to minimise disruption the work will done in 2 halves.
Firstly, the widening work to accommodate the new westbound carriageway will take place to the north of the existing junction. This will entail the closure of Hatherton Street on the north side for approximately 3 weeks, starting on 20th July. Once complete traffic will be moved over onto the new north side and the southern side (the existing junction) will be closed. This is due to happen on 10th August and will take approximately 7 weeks.
During the closure of the north side traffic will still be able to use Hatherton Street on the town side and right turns towards the Arboretum junction will be permitted. Traffic to the north of the closure will need to use Teddesley Street.
When the south side closure is in place traffic will not be able to enter or exit Hatherton Street at Littleton Street. During this period traffic wishing to get to Hatherton Street, south of the junction, can do so via Green Lane or Stafford Street and then along St Paul’s Street and Hatherton Road. To exit from Hatherton Street traffic wishing to go west (towards M6 J10) can use Lichfield Street, while traffic wanting to go towards Lichfield or use Broadway North can access the new Arboretum junction via Lower Rushall Street.
Once completed the new Hatherton Street junction will permit all turning movements on all arms.
The Arboretum Junction
The long standing traffic management is at last due to be removed. From Sunday 6th July the junction will operate on traffic signals.
At first the junction will not operate to its full efficiency and some lanes may remain closed for traffic safety reasons. This is a complicated new junction and some teething problems can be expected. There will also be some uncertainty in the first few days of operation while drivers get used to the new layout but this should settle down. Council traffic engineers will be monitoring the junction operation closely and will be ready to react should problems arise.
The switching on of the signals is not the end of work at this junction since existing crossing facilities that could not be touched until the new crossings were available need to be removed. This work has been carefully planned to minimise disruption.
The opening of the signal junction will mean the loss of the U turn facility offered by the roundabout. For the majority of road users this will not be a problem but vehicles which used the U turn to access Lower Forster Street will need to plan an alternative approach.
In both the current situation and the permanent scheme Lower Forster Street can only be accessed by a left turn off Littleton Street East. For drivers approaching from Lichfield Street, Broadway North or Lower Rushall Street there will be no change but traffic from the west (i.e. along Littleton Street West) will no longer be able to U turn at the Arboretum. Once the Hatherton Street junction is complete this will allow for right turns from Littleton Street West and access to Lower Forster Street will be via Hatherton Street and Lichfield Street. In the short term, while Hatherton Street junction is being developed, traffic can use St Paul’s Street (via Wolverhampton Street, Green Lane or Stafford Street), Hatherton Road and Lichfield Street.
The council recognises the inconvenience this could cause, especially for delivery vehicles, but would ask for the public’s continued patience during this complicated phase of the work.
June 2007
Work on the ring road is continuing with many important elements of the work having progressed over the last few months.
Gas, water, electricity and communications companies are continuing with long and often complex diversion work that will eventually allow road widening to take place. In several areas these diversions require excavation across existing roads and the traffic management necessary to allow this is being carefully coordinated to minimise the impact on all road users.
Many lengths of the proposed new road cannot be started until existing underground services have been diverted. However, wherever possible work has started on some stretches of road and lengths of new carriageway and kerbs can clearly be seen.
Work has started on the re-decking of part of the canal bridge on Wolverhampton Road. This section of the bridge is old and is no longer able to cope with the stresses on modern heavy goods vehicles. The re-decking work is being done in stages to allow the council to maintain traffic flows in the area.
The new rail bridge on Littleton Street West is progressing with pile foundations now complete. New abutment walls are being constructed after which the new deck will be put in place. Following this the embankments on either side will be constructed ready for the new road to be built.
December 2006 - Major construction works set to begin
Major construction works – including preparatory work to strengthen and improve a key canal bridge – begin in January.Contractors Norwest Holst have worked with Walsall Council officers to specifically schedule the works after Christmas and New Year so that traders in the town can gain maximum benefit during the festive season.
Work begins to prepare for replacing a bridge deck and carrying out major road improvements at Wolverhampton Road/Pleck Road – requiring traffic management through the junction from Monday 8 January 2007. Major works will also start along Pleck Road and to allow this to happen safely with minimum inconvenience to road users, a northbound one-way system will be introduced on Sunday 7 January 2007.
Traffic will circulate clockwise: Northbound only on Pleck Road, between Rollingmill Street and Bridgeman Street, east on Bridgeman Street; south on Queen Street and west on Rollingmill Street. Ida Road will be restricted to one-way running – westbound between Pleck Road and Scarborough Road. One-way restrictions are necessary to allow underground services – such as gas and water – to be moved without the inconvenience and major congestion that lots of small constantly changing works would cause.
Other works will be necessary around the northern ring road to re-route services, but – wherever possible - these will take place at off-peak times and be combined to reduce disruption. Work also begins in January to prepare the Arboretum junction for its new layout as a more efficient, five-way junction at this site.
October 2006
Work is now underway on Walsall Council’s long-awaited improvements to the town centre ring road. 
Contractors Norwest Holst started initial work on Monday 3 July 2006 on the £16 million Town Centre Transport Package, which, when completed, will make life better for all road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and bus passengers.
Whilst work is taking place, Walsall Council will be working hard to ensure residents, local businesses and traders are kept informed and up-to-date with progress and the measures taken to minimise disruption.
We will post updates about how your journeys may be affected by roadworks on this live update page.
There is also a wealth of information about the improvements themselves on our ring road improvements and ring road redevelopment pages
View the outline programme June 2007 (PDF 57KB)
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This page was last updated on 28 August 2008