City Centre Road Improvements

Overview

Lots of people travel to and in Birmingham city centre every day. We need to make sure that public transport is constantly improving to make it easy for people to get around and to reduce reliance on private cars, which cause unnecessary congestion and pollution.

Through the Birmingham Connected transport strategy, we have ambitious plans to deliver an integrated public transport network which will allow people to travel across the city in a safe and secure environment with fast movement through some of the most congested sections of the road network. This will include more Metro lines, bus priority schemes and a number of cross-city ‘sprint’ bus rapid transit lines.

At the same time, we are working to improve air quality in the city to meet legal air quality limits in the shortest possible time. Making the bus network as attractive as possible will be an important tool in reducing congestion and improving air quality.

We have already started delivering on this vision with the extension of the Midlands Metro tram to Grand Central and have started work to extend the tram to Edgbaston along Broad Street. This will mean changes for some traffic, including buses, particularly at Paradise Queensway and Five Ways.

Transport for West Midlands, Birmingham City Council and the Midland Metro Alliance are working together on four proposed road schemes in Birmingham city centre which aim to reduce the impact of the changes to Broad Street as a result of the new tram, particularly for bus users.

1. Sheepcote Street

With the new Metro route on Broad Street, general traffic will be encouraged to use other routes. This schemes makes it easier for general traffic to use St Vincent Street and discourages use of Sheepcote Street and Broad Street other than for public transport and access.

Summary:

Proposal to introduce a southbound bus lane on Sheepcote Street from the entrance of the Arena Birmingham (NIA) car park to King Edwards Drive (in the direction of Broad Street) and remove the existing bus lane at the junction of St. Vincent Street and Sheepcote Street.

A bus gate at the start of the lane will allow only buses, taxis and pedal cycles to access this part of the road.

Download a detailed plan of the proposal at the bottom of this page.

Changes:

• Bus lane on Sheepcote Street towards Broad Street, from Arena Birmingham south car park entrance to King Edwards Drive.
• Bus gate at start of new bus lane to allow only buses, taxis and cycles to access the bus lane.
• Removal of existing bus lane on St Vincent Street.
• Change of priority at junction of St Vincent Street and Sheepcote Street (priority to vehicles on St Vincent Street).

Benefits:

• Better public transport routes along Sheepcote Street and Broad Street
• Less traffic on Sheepcote Street.
• Improved safety of pedestrians due to reduced volume and speed of traffic
• Improved air quality and reduced noise along Sheepcote Street
• Potential for more people to use buses, reducing congestion and air pollution.
• More efficient exit from Brunswick Square (Brindleyplace)
• Access to Arena Birmingham maintained from all directions, and formalised for event traffic.
• Changed coach parking to enable safer waiting and passenger disembarking.

2. Paradise Queensway/Great Charles Street Queensway/Margaret Street

At peak times, over 60 buses an hour use Great Charles Street and almost 60,000 people per day travel on buses on Great Charles Street Queensway, far more than travel in cars. This scheme will take buses out of traffic queues, improving journey times and reliability and making bus travel more attractive.

Summary:

A bus lane on Paradise Queensway on the approach to Great Charles Street Queensway.

A bus lane at Great Charles Street Queensway (towards Paradise Queensway) and Margaret Street including changes to parking on Margaret Street (between Cornwall Street and Gt Charles Street Queensway).

The bus lanes would be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Buses, black cabs and cyclists can use the bus lanes.

The new bus lanes would use road space currently shared by all traffic. However, since the start of the works to construct the Paradise development, the lanes to be used for bus lanes have been closed off and have only recently re-opened. In this time, traffic through the areas has also reduced by 50%, so it is unlikely that the proposal would create extra delay for other traffic, but this would be carefully monitored.

Download a detailed plan of the proposal at the bottom of this page.

Changes:

• Bus lane on Paradise Queensway towards Great Charles Street Queensway; starting north of Cambridge Street and running into Great Charles Street Queensway.
• Bus lane on Great Charles Street Queensway towards St. Chads, starting at the junction with Paradise Queensway and continuing to Newhall Street.
• Bus lane on Margaret Street towards Great Charles Street Queensway, starting next to the junction with Cornwall Street and continuing to Great Charles Street Queensway.
• On Margaret Street, removal of three on-street parking spaces and relocation of loading bay, car club and disabled parking space to the opposite side of the road.
• Bus lane on Great Charles Street Queensway towards Paradise Queensway, starting at Margaret Street and continuing towards Paradise Queensway.

Benefits:

• Reduced bus journey times and better reliability of bus services.
• Potential for more people to use buses, reducing congestion and air pollution.

3. Islington Row Middleway/George Road/Bath Row

New one-way system along George Road (towards Islington Row Middleway). Improvements to George Road/Bath Row/Islington Row Middleway junction to provide new traffic signals, including pedestrian crossing facilities, right turn into Bath Row for all vehicles and new bus gate at George Road to allow buses to cross Islington Row Middleway into Bath Row.

This schemes reduces the number of vehicles needing to use Five Ways roundabout to cross the ring road and provides new pedestrian crossing facilities at the junction of Islington Row Middleway, Bath Row and George Road.

Summary:

New one-way system along George Road (towards Islington Row Middleway). Improvements to George Road/Bath Row/Islington Row Middleway junction to provide new traffic signals, including pedestrian crossing facilities, right turn into Bath Row for all vehicles and new bus gate at George Road to allow buses to cross Islington Row Middleway into Bath Row.

Download a detailed plan of the proposal at the bottom of this page.

Changes:

• One way operation of George Road (from St James Road to Islington Row Middleway) to allow buses (X64 and 98) to use this road, instead of Frederick Road, with no loss of parking.
• Redesign of Islington Row Middleway/Bath Row/George Road junction, with new traffic signals.
• A bus gate to allow buses, taxis and cycles only to cross Islington Middleway from George Road to Bath Row.
• Opening of the right turn from Islington Row Middleway into Bath Row for all traffic.
• Signal controlled pedestrian crossing facilities on Islington Row Middleway, Bath Row and George Road.

Benefits:

• Better facilities for pedestrians.
• Better public transport routes, with direct access across Islington Row Middleway on to Bath Row.
• Potential for more people to use buses, reducing congestion and air pollution.
• Reduction of vehicle flow around the Five Ways roundabout, easing potential congestion at this location.
• Improvements to traffic signal linking along Islington Row Middleway between Five Ways and Bristol Street to ease congestion.

4. Bath Row/Holloway Head

This road carries over 10,000 bus passengers each day. As the Metro extension is built along Broad Street, more buses will use Bath Row and Holloway Head, bringing this to over 20,000 passengers each day and up to 30 buses per hour. This scheme will take buses out of traffic queues, improving journey times and reliability and making bus travel more attractive. Capacity for general traffic will not be reduced, so no extra delays are expected, but there will be a reduction in in on-street parking and some additional waiting restrictions.

Summary:

Bus lane on approach to Holloway Circus and changes to on-street parking.

The bus lanes would be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Buses, black cabs and cyclists can use the bus lanes.

Download a detailed plan of the proposal at the bottom of this page.

Changes:

What happens next

After the consultation closes, we will review all your responses and make appropriate changes to the proposals.

For the Sheepcote Street and Islington Row Middleway/George Road/Bath Row proposals, this will be followed by a period of legal consultation on the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) before the scheme can be implemented. You may respond to that legal consultation whether or not you have responded this time.

The Bath Row/Holloway Head and Paradise Circus/Great Charles Street Queensway/Margaret Street will be implemented under experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs), so there will be no further consultation before the changes come into effect. After they have been in place for some time, there will be a legal consultation on whether to make the TROs permanent. You can continue to make comments at any time before this by emailing transport.projects@birmingham.gov.uk.