Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

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Achmelvic
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Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Achmelvic »

I know there's a topic already about the 'Cycle Superhighway' in Leeds however this may be further reaching so thought it best to start a new topic.

I was searching online for plans showing what's happening on York Street here in Leeds where work has restarted in the last few weeks after stopping about a year ago and the road being mostly closed west bound for a long time.

Clearly it's been decided that what had been built on York Street as part of the cycle superhighway works wasn't correct, indeed it was clearly cr*p and badly thought out. There is now a team there ripping up the curbs only put in a year or so ago and rearranging things. I assume the plan is to allow the cycle path to continue properly by making central reservation narrower, bit hard to explain hence why I was looking for plans but can't actually find any.

But anyway what I did find was the Leeds City Council's site with their plans for the city centre as a whole which will involve a lot of pedestrianisation and bus route changes. For those interested they're here: Transforming Our City Centre. I'm not sure if this has been discussed here before?

Also available on that site are the plans for Hunslet Road and out to the new Park and Ride site at Stourton which looks to have now started construction in the last month. This will include bus and cycle lanes most of the way from the city centre out to the junction with Pontefract Lane where interestingly it's proposed to make some significant changes to the layout and expand it.

Annoyingly the proposals are listed as A61 which is incorrect! Since the flyover in Hunslet was opened as the final stage of the Inner Ring Road about a decade ago the A61 hasn't run along Hunslet Road, it's the A639. It's right on Open Street Map but clearly someone at the council or their consultations based it on what it says on Google Maps...

Finally what's also proposed is a refurbishment of the bus station.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Owain »

Within the past couple of years, the junction between Woodhouse Lane and Clay Pit Lane has also been modernised. It's a relatively small change, but it's a lot tidier than it used to be, and appears to be much safer too.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Debaser »

Achmelvic wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 14:16 Also available on that site are the plans for Hunslet Road and out to the new Park and Ride site at Stourton which looks to have now started construction in the last month. This will include bus and cycle lanes most of the way from the city centre out to the junction with Pontefract Lane where interestingly it's proposed to make some significant changes to the layout and expand it.
Hmmm...I thought that the currently signalised junction of Ponty Road and Wakey Road near First Direct was originally going to be a traditional roundabout? Pity there's still some on-carriageway cycle lanes going in to Leeds, but it might be enough infra to tempt me to brave the HGV traffic in Stourton and commute by bike.

Can't say the new junction layouts for the Park and Ride look particularly attractive to cycle through any more than it does now, and the lack of NMU facilities to the south-east towards Leeds Valley Park is a missed opportunity that could have helped solve the parking problem they currently experience.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Achmelvic »

For those interested there is currently the public consultation open for the plans to remove traffic from City Square in Leeds:
City Square highways improvements

Personally whilst I see the attraction of making the area in front of the station and new Channel 4 HQ (which opens today) into a public square the proposal to force traffic further out onto the IRR, M621 and through Armley Gyratory will be painful before there's more decent public transport options in place. The new Park and Ride at Stourton next to M621 J7 also opens today but Leeds will need many more before people stop wanting to drive into the city centre.

Also I assume this means the end of the city centre loop road.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Bryn666 »

Achmelvic wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 09:58 For those interested there is currently the public consultation open for the plans to remove traffic from City Square in Leeds:
City Square highways improvements

Personally whilst I see the attraction of making the area in front of the station and new Channel 4 HQ (which opens today) into a public square the proposal to force traffic further out onto the IRR, M621 and through Armley Gyratory will be painful before there's more decent public transport options in place. The new Park and Ride at Stourton next to M621 J7 also opens today but Leeds will need many more before people stop wanting to drive into the city centre.

Also I assume this means the end of the city centre loop road.
It seems to suggest an alternative route adjacent but the overall aim does appear to be to reduce through traffic on the loop. I always expected this would be the looming case when IRR 7 was built a decade ago.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Chris5156 »

Achmelvic wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 09:58For those interested there is currently the public consultation open for the plans to remove traffic from City Square in Leeds:
City Square highways improvements

Personally whilst I see the attraction of making the area in front of the station and new Channel 4 HQ (which opens today) into a public square the proposal to force traffic further out onto the IRR, M621 and through Armley Gyratory will be painful before there's more decent public transport options in place. The new Park and Ride at Stourton next to M621 J7 also opens today but Leeds will need many more before people stop wanting to drive into the city centre.

Also I assume this means the end of the city centre loop road.
Interesting. I remember City Square being effectively just a multi-lane roundabout with high mast lighting and a windswept island of broken slab paving in the middle, so it's come a long way in the last 30 years!

The idea for what the square itself would be like is very appealing, but it's currently used by all sorts of transport and it's right outside the station so this looks like the cost of this project might be widespread inconvenience. I see that buses and taxis are moving from New Station Street to Bishopsgate Street, which means they'd lose their position right outside the station doors and would instead be a level further down, requiring a walk, stairs or a lift. That's not very convenient.

Given that the square is also on the route of the City Centre Loop, and the plans envisage two-way running on East Parade complete with a bus gate blocking its connection to the Headrow, it's absolutely the end of the Loop as we know it too. Which is rather a shame - it's a clever scheme that allowed large parts of the centre to be effectively a low traffic zone before the concept had a name.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Achmelvic »

Also recently posted are the proposals for Armley Gyratory:
Armley Gyratory Update

The cut through options have been dropped, sounds like owners of the land in the middle didn't want to co-operate, so we'll just get some widened lanes and new traffic lights. Whilst may be a slight improvement on what's there now I doubt it'll be able to cope much better with the extra traffic which will be forced this way after the loop road is severed.

A lot of this seems dependent upon NA/HE getting on with the junction changes on the M621.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Bryn666 »

Achmelvic wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 10:57 Also recently posted are the proposals for Armley Gyratory:
Armley Gyratory Update

The cut through options have been dropped, sounds like owners of the land in the middle didn't want to co-operate, so we'll just get some widened lanes and new traffic lights. Whilst may be a slight improvement on what's there now I doubt it'll be able to cope much better with the extra traffic which will be forced this way after the loop road is severed.

A lot of this seems dependent upon NA/HE getting on with the junction changes on the M621.
Ah, so wider queues instead of longer ones. Pointless.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by jackal »

And how on earth is that £40.5m?? Looks more like a £5m pinch point job.

A lot of the budget seems to be going on removing the current, relatively direct NMU bridges and making them zig zag, so no one's tempted by active travel.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Chris5156 »

It’s a real shame some of the earlier proposals seem to have died a death. There was a genuinely ambitious idea to grade separate at least some movements which would have been transformational.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by NICK 647063 »

One of the Armley Options was 2 bridges meaning complete free flow on IRR through the junction, the land owner is British Gas but they didn’t object it’s simply a case of the council saving money, it’s going to be a nightmare while it’s done, Leeds is massively frustrating at the moment you have major works on 3 sections of the A64 at Regent street, Seacroft Hospital and ELOR junction.

As for York Street getting redone bet they are trying to keep that quiet seems like what happened on York Road parts of the cycle lane had changed a year after as it was unsafe.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Truvelo »

Achmelvic wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 10:57 The cut through options have been dropped, sounds like owners of the land in the middle didn't want to co-operate
Surely the city council as the highway authority owns the land or does the car park belong to a private outfit?
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Bomag »

Truvelo wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 20:38
Achmelvic wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 10:57 The cut through options have been dropped, sounds like owners of the land in the middle didn't want to co-operate
Surely the city council as the highway authority owns the land or does the car park belong to a private outfit?
More to do with Northern Gas Networks, the land was cheap the service diversion probably wasn't.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by c2R »

New legislation:

The Leeds City Council (Sovereign Street Bridge) Scheme 2021 Confirmation Instrument 2021

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/982/made

A shared use pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Aire between Water Lane and Sovereign Street.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by solocle »

The cycle routes did seem a bit discombobulated when I passed through on Sunday. However, the biggest disruption was the Leeds 10K on my planned route, the A65 Kirkstall Road. I still went that way, but there were a few miles spent cycling on the wrong side of a closed road!
DE4E8F21-7FE3-4B21-88B7-17F27899B424.jpeg
Bit difficult to spot everything like that on a long tour (LEJOG).
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Owain »

I'm sure this has been covered on a more specific thread, but I can't find anything recent: it was reported on local news yesterday that a solution has been decided upon with regard to the Armley gyratory, and that the works will soon begin, to be completed within 18 months.

A selection of summaries of the project here:

https://armleygyratory.commonplace.is/a ... businesses.


https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds ... t-22641576


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-59900167
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Owain »

Clearance works are underway on and around the Armley gyratory. The gas cylinder was removed at some point last year, but now there are a load of trees and presumably other stuff that have gone. I'm not sure what, precisely, but having just been through there you can tell that something has gone, because it looks a lot more 'open' than before.
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by stu531 »

I did try and find a thread for this, but...

I'd not realised the Leeds Loop was no more. It's been removed, in plain sight. I knew the works were going on around City Square, but the closures around it mean that from north-to-south, the way is to use Globe Road and Whitehall Road - I think. LCC was looking at the creation of the 'City Boulevard' some time back but I wasn't sure if it is now semi-official.

Anyone any ideas?
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Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by Achmelvic »

Yes the City Loop was severed about a year ago when City Square was closed to through traffic. Initially, it was just signs saying to not use, bus gates and cameras etc, but gradually has became more enforced until now it's not possible drive through towards Quebec Street.

Globe Road/Whitehall isn't really meant to be a through route for north-south traffic, the council want to move everyone further out to the Inner Ring Road (ie M621/Ingram Road/A58(M)/A64(M)/East Street/Hunslet flyover).
The signs on the M621 have had the C for centre covered up, appears they don't want people to drive to the centre at all.

There's loads of other traffic reductions going on, for example Crown Point Road is now only one lane northbound.

Some info on the council website

As far as I know the city boulevard idea has pretty much died
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Re: Leeds City Centre New Road Layouts

Post by stu531 »

Hmm. Thanks for the info, Achmelvic. I'd not really noticed it'd gone.

In a lot of ways it makes sense for the A58(M)/A643/M621 etc to become the 'true inner ring road' - but what's weird is that it's not signed as such. Hopefully with the new M621 works going on they'll rethink how it works, but signing it properly as Ring Road - like Manchester and Sheffield do - would be an obvious step to take if loop has gone.
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