Subway to close in £5m island project

A well-used subway under one of Wolverhampton's busiest roundabouts will be closed permanently as part of a £5 million congestion-busting project, it was revealed today.

The city's Penn Road island will be widened and extra lanes created after plans to combat queuing traffic were given the go ahead. Roads around the island are regularly clogged up with queuing traffic during rush hour. And in a bid to tackle the traffic problems, highways bosses have now drawn up the remodelling scheme.

As part of the project the inside carriageway will be widened, meaning new large retaining walls will have to be created in the sunken middle section of the roundabout.

It means one of the island's subway paths, between Ring Road St John's and Penn Road will be closed permanently. Other subway paths on the roundabout will remain open.

Councillors said the city's popular skate park may also have to be closed while the project, expected to be completed in three phases, goes ahead.

A report to council bosses by highways chiefs states: "Significant peak hour queues are experienced by drivers on all legs under current conditions.

"This will undoubtedly worsen when traffic generated by major city centre developments such as Summer Row and Raglan Street has to be also catered for.

"For this reason a scheme to add capacity has been investigated as has the means by which it might be funded and implemented."

"It should be noted that the skateboard park would be temporarily affected during some of the phases.

"Every effort would be made during detailed design and construction to minimise disruption but it might, in the worst case scenario, be necessary to suspend its use of the facility and re-instate upon completion," added the report.

The latest proposals have been announced months after workers moved in to widen the carriageway at Ring Road St John's, which leads to the island. The work is costing around £200,000.