Road closures will be in place on part of Leicester’s busy A50 next week as work on a major highway improvement scheme progresses.
Leicester City Council is carrying out an ambitious redevelopment of the A50/Fiveways junction and its connecting roads, in northwest Leicester, to help make this important and busy route safer and easier to use for all road users.
As part of the project, the council is completely redesigning and overhauling the busy junction which links Blackbird Road, Woodgate, Fosse Road North, Groby Road and Buckminster Road.
Once complete, the major improvement scheme will deliver a reconfigured and simplified junction with improved pedestrian crossings and major improvements on its connecting roads, including new cycle lanes, wider footpaths and improved routes for buses.
Work is being carried out in phases to help minimise disruption, with the overall project expected to be complete by Spring 2024.
Several phases of work are now largely complete – including improvements to Buckminster Road, Stephenson Drive, Fosse Road North and Groby Road cycleway – with work set to begin on the junction of Woodgate and Fiveways from next week.
On Tuesday 8 August, Woodgate will be closed to outbound traffic at its junction with Fiveways for one day only.
Then, from Thursday 10 August, Woodgate will be closed to inbound traffic between its junctions with Fiveways and Marshall Street for up to two weeks. This is needed while work to reconfigure kerbs, ducting and drainage are carried out.
Well signed diversions will be in place.
Work is then due to move onto Fiveways junction itself which will be subject to a rolling programme of short-term road closures from Thursday 24 August, for up to five weeks. This is to allow the newly reconfigured junction to be fully resurfaced. Full details will be publicised nearer the time.
Martin Fletcher, Leicester City Council director of highways, said: “This a major scheme that will make huge improvements to one of the most confusing junctions in Leicester. It will help simplify Fiveways for drivers and make it a much more attractive and route for all road users.
“We’re working hard to minimise disruption by carrying out work in phases and keeping road closures to a minimum. However, we will need to introduce a rolling programme of short-term closures over the coming weeks as we come to resurfacing the newly reconfigured junction.”
The scheme – which is expected to cost about £10.4million – is being paid for through a mix of Enterprise Zone funding through the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP), and the Transforming Cities Fund following the city council’s successful bid for £32million of second tranche funding to support improvements to public transport and provide more safer routes for walkers, wheelers and cyclists in the city centre and local neighbourhoods.
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