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Horsforth roundabout to get traffic lights
Measures to improve safety and traffic flow at a busy Horsforth roundabout are set to go ahead.
Approval has been given to a scheme to install signals at the junction of the A65 and the A6120, which is seen as having strategic importance for the city as well as providing a key link for Leeds Bradford Airport.
Approval has been given under delegated powers at Leeds City Council for funding of £50,000 to undertake the preliminary design work to have lights installed at the junction, pictured. Highways officers will also look into the possible phasing of improvement works and any complementary measures necessary at adjacent junctions.
A report to the highways and trans-portation chief officer said the roundabout experienced significant levels of congestion and had a ‘significant adverse impact on the efficiency of the road network’.
The roundabout, which is next to the Esso garage, connects New Road Side in Horsforth, to the Ring Road and to Rawdon Road. It has been the scene of 28 accidents in the past five years and is listed number 14 on Leeds’ road safety sites for concern register.
The Horsforth roundabout was one of six sites to be included in a bid for funding to the Regional Transport Board for the years 2014 onwards. But all post-2014 schemes have been deferred by the board.
A report to the chief officer says: “this site has been highlighted as a priority on the basis that it has strategic importance in terms of a key link to LBIA, it would support a future potential bus priority scheme for the A65 Rawdon Road, and future development sites may offer funding opportunities.”
It adds: “Currently, there are congestion problems, poor facilities for non-motorised users, disruption to public transport services and accidents at the junction.”
Preliminary design work will now go ahead on the scheme which is seen as important to the A65 Rawdon Road bus priority scheme and for access to the airport.
The initial design work is expected to be completed by July and will then be followed by a consultation exercise and a detailed design phase.
The £50,000 cost will be met from the integrated transport scheme within the approved capital programme and is eligible for 100 per cent government funding.
Earlier this year more than 100 people attended a meeting in Rawdon calling for urgent action to end congestion on the A65 from Horsforth to Menston, and the A658 Bradford to Pool Road.
The organisers of the meeting, the Aireborough Civic Society and the Apperley Lane Residents Association, said little had been done to alleviate the problems caused by housing developments and increased traffic to Leeds Bradford Airport. They claimed congestion regularly occurred on the A65 at Yeadon, along with long tailbacks at many junctions, including the Horsforth roundabout.
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