£180k improvement plans for main routes in Walsall

Walsall Council is earmarking work along the A34 Birmingham Road and Caldmore Road as part of new funding proposals.

But plans for a car park in Lucknow Road, Willenhall, have been dropped to enable the two other projects to go-ahead.

Watchman signs, which can flash up a drivers' registration number or the speed limit of the road, are planned along the Birmingham Road which runs between Walsall town centre towards Great Barr. There is also moves to extend the central reservation.

Transport chief, councillor Lee Jeavons, said: "There is an ongoing need to address the road safety and traffic management issues on both Birmingham Road and Caldmore Road.

"To be frank, there is a greater need to concentrate our diminishing resources on improving the safety of road users in these areas, instead of creating a new car park.

"There have been a number of serious collisions on the A34 and this scheme will see us extending the central reservation and implementing a Watchman sign to reduce the speed of motorists.

"We will also look to address the traffic flow and parking issues in Caldmore Road."

It has been agreed by the council with a report stating the new scheme aim to address 'high priority traffic management and road safety matters.'

Around £168,000 had been allocated for a new 18-space car park at Lucknow Road, Willenhall, as part of the capital programme.

But the money saved from not going through with the scheme, and an underspend on the conversion of grass verges into more than 40 parking bays around the borough, is also going towards the costs.

A petition containing more than 1,000 signatures was previously submitted in favour of plans to use a grassed area in front of shops in Lucknow Road into parking.

The scheme aimed to reduce illegal parking and other issues near to the junction of Lucknow Road and Pool Hayes Lane.

Willenhall councillor Ian Shires said it was a blow to the area it would no longer go-ahead.

"Matters just continue to get worse, the traffic through that junction has increased dramatically," he said. "It was trying to keep the businesses popular."

The Watchman signs have been used in a bid to slow down drivers on major routes. Roads involved in the scheme are the Broadway, Sutton Road and Northgate in Aldridge.