North east Leeds ring road junction improvements to commence later this month

A range of infrastructure and environmental improvements to three outer ring road junctions are set to begin in north east Leeds later this month.

The work promises to tackle traffic congestion, improve local air quality and provide new infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

Preliminary work will begin on the junctions which are located on the existing outer ring road west of Red Hall; the A6120/Roundhay Park Lane junction and A6120/A61 Harrogate Road junctions. This will be followed by similar work to the A6120/King Lane and King Lane/Stonegate Road junctions at a later date.

When completed, these improvements will improve the flow of traffic at these junctions and help improve local air quality by minimising exhaust emissions from stop-start traffic.

Separate pedestrian and cycle routes will also be created at each junction as part of Leeds City Council’s long-term strategy to green the north east Leeds corridor and encourage people to leave the car at home and use alternative transport.

Council proposals to create a wet woodland habitat near the Roundhay Park Lane Junction are also included as part of the work. In the future, this woodland could home more than 1000 trees.

To mitigate the necessary removal of a number of trees along the corridors of the outer ring road junctions the council has committed to replacing any tree removed with at least three of an appropriate species.

This project will support a wide range of tree planting and habitat improvements being made across Leeds that will make the urban street scape greener and more attractive. This includes an emphasis on tree planting in association with planned highway improvements as part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s ‘Green Streets’ initiative and as a contribution to the newly promoted Northern Forest.

To view the plans for each junction and proposals to introduce separate pedestrian and cyclist routes, please see the following page: https://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/parking-roads-and-travel/roadworks/outer-ring-road-improvements.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council executive member for regeneration, transport, and planning, said:

“We want to ensure that the city’s transport corridors are as green as possible and these plans for infrastructure improvements at junctions in north east Leeds are certainly ambitious on that score.

“They include the creation of separate pedestrians and cyclist travel routes to encourage alternative ways of travel, and also include moving forward with a proposal to create a wet meadow at the Roundhay Park Lane Junction which, when completed, would see over 1,000 trees planted.

“Residents can be assured that - if any trees do need to be removed as an unavoidable necessity of work undertaken - we are committed to ensuring that they will be replaced by the planting of at least another three trees.

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact:

Leeds City Council communications,

Email: communicationsteam@leeds.gov.uk

Tel: 0113 378 8560