Plan ahead for busiest time of year on city centre roads

Motorists travelling into Leeds are being encouraged to plan ahead for what is typically the busiest time of year on the city centre’s roads.

The run-up to the Christmas period always sees traffic increase with more people travelling into the city centre to shop and to enjoy events and festivities.

Alongside this, Leeds City Council is working on a series of ongoing highways improvement schemes which will cause some disruption during construction but overall should improve accessibility or ease congestion in the long term.

These include the final phase of work at the Armley Gyratory Wellington footbridge and the Connecting West Leeds project on the A6120 between Horsforth and Rodley. Also, work continues at Bishopgate Street to improve the capacity and access to Leeds Station, the A660 cycle improvements at Headingly and new active travel scheme on Whitehall Road in the city centre.

There are the final stages of the National Highways’ works on the M621 at Junction two, and central barrier work to reduce future maintenance on the M1 between junctions 44 and 46. In addition, utilities works continue in parts of the city to provide essential services to residents, such as gas works along Meanwood Road and other reactive unplanned fault repairs.

The council works hard to prioritise and co-ordinate highways schemes to keep any disruption to a minimum. This includes reprogramming works to less sensitive times or restricting the type of traffic management employed. However, some works must be carried out or completed now, to ease congestion on other areas of the network and to allow for other schemes to start in the New Year.

The road network in and around Leeds city centre has transformed in recent years, with several major improvements such as the closure of City Square as a through-route to general traffic and changes to key routes such as The Headrow and East Parade.

With traffic likely to increase over the festive period and these major changes to the city centre roads, the council is advising motorists to plan their journey in advance, by allowing extra time and familiarising themselves with their route. The use of the city’s three Park and Ride sites including the UK’s first fully solar-powered park-and-ride facility at Stourton provides a cost effective, convenient, and stress-free alternative to driving into the city centre.

Despite the council’s best efforts in programming highways works, sometimes emergency repairs for example to burst water pipes are out of the council’s control and can disrupt travel. Another reason to check before travelling in and around the city’s roads.

When making trips across the city centre, in most instances it may be quicker and easier to use the ring road accessed from junction two and four of the M621.

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s deputy leader and executive member for economy, transport, and sustainable development, said: “The major improvements we have made in the city centre are putting people first and creating a safer and more welcoming environment for everyone. Motorists can still drive into and around the city centre, but some routes will have changed or in some cases are no longer open to through-traffic.

“The coming months and the festive season always see an increase in traffic on our roads. We try to minimise any works we carry out during this period but sometimes this is unavoidable.

“We’re encouraging motorists driving into the city centre to plan their journeys in advance and allow extra time to help avoid getting caught in any congestion. If travelling from one side of the city centre to another, we would suggest using the ring road rather than driving through the city.

“For commuters and leisure visitors in the run up to Christmas, there’s also a choice of three park and ride sites, which offer good value, convenient, and stress-free alternatives to driving into Leeds city centre.”

The council has launched a dedicated website which includes general information on how to drive to a number of key locations and venues across the city, along with a map of blue badge parking spaces. However, this may not consider short-term or temporary changes such as urgent utilities, highways work, and major events.