Plan to ease traffic jams along busy Dudley route

Dudley Council will submit a bid for hundreds of thousands of pounds towards the work on the A4101 High Street, in Pensnett.

Bosses say the road is 'the last remaining bottleneck' between the Pensnett Trading Estate, in Kingswinford and junction 2 of the M5 at Oldbury.

The application comes after it was announced that a fund of £27.6 million would be available for transport projects in the Black Country.

The region has been given the money by the Department of Transport and councils are now deciding on how the money should be spent.

A programme for the improvements along High Street is now being developed.

It is hoped that revamping the route will help businesses as well as motorists in the borough.

The work, expected to start during the 2016 to 2017 financial year, is expected to take two years to complete.

A report by cabinet member of transport, Councillor Judy Foster, says the project is considered a 'priority scheme' by the council.

During rush hour traffic can build up on the route, which goes past Russells Hall Hospital, with queues stretching back to Kingswinford and also in the opposite direction at the junction with Pensnett Road, which leads to the busy A4036 Pedmore Road near Merry Hill Shopping Centre.

The council is also working on separate plans to ease congestion on the Birmingham New Road by revamping a junction at Coseley.

A bid for funding for the work at Shaw Road has been lodged by leaders in Dudley and Wolverhampton City Council.

They want to make the route safer for pedestrians and motorists as well as reducing queues.

Each council will contribute £202,500 to the project and leaders hope the rest of the cash will come from the Government's Local Pinch Point Fund, which is aimed at tackling bottlenecks on busy routes.

The £27.6m funding boost for the Black Country was announced by the Government last month.

Leaders of the region's four councils are deciding how it should be spent.

And they have appointed a director to oversee transport on matters that are important to the whole region rather than just one council.

Black Country Transport Director Laura Shoaf said the region was ideally placed to attract investment because of its good transport links but needed to make itself heard when applying for funding.

Miss Shoaf, who is based at Wolverhampton City Council, said when the cash was announced: "We will be considering schemes that will be ready to go between 2015 and 2019. It's for anyone who has a scheme to apply."

The work comes six months after council leaders began discussing the idea of a new tier of local government that would act on behalf of all four councils on matters of joint importance.

Transport was considered as one of the most important issues for them to work together on. However, the creation of a joint board came about because the Government required one in order to provide the roads cash.