Harborne Road Safety

Overview

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and Birmingham City Council (BCC) are working together to make Harborne Road safer.

For the last 12 months a bus lane trial has been in place on Harborne Road. Monitoring of the impact of the bus lane continues but so far shows:

• an improvement in bus journey times of up to six minutes during the morning rush hour
• no impact on other vehicle journey times
• no change in the number and severity of reported accidents

Although there has not been a significant change in the number and severity of reported accidents in the area, safety concerns about non reported accidents have been raised by local residents, and the number of accidents reported suggests that some changes to key junctions would improve road safety.

We will be making changes at three junctions:

• Harborne Road, Chad Road and Augustus Road
• Harborne Road and Richmond Hill Road
• Harborne Road, Brook Road and Westfield Road

Proposed Changes:

All maps can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

Junction of Harborne Road, Chad Road and Augustus Road

The changes to this junction are intended to reduce the speed of vehicles, which should reduce the likelihood of collisions.

The road surface on the whole of the junction will be raised by about 7.5cm (called a raised table) so that vehicles have to go up a small ramp as they approach. Bollards will be added on the edge of the footway to help people, especially those with visual impairments, identify where the footway ends and the road begins.

For drivers approaching the junction from Augustus Road and going straight on to Harborne Road, the current ‘give way’ signs and markings will be replaced with ‘stop’ signs and markings.

Some traffic lanes through the junction will have a slightly sharper bend and the raised splitter islands separating lanes will be changed to accommodate this.

Speed cushions will be added on Augustus Road from Grenfell Drive to Harborne Road and on Harborne Road from Hawthorne Road to Augustus Road. Speed cushions can be straddled by larger vehicles but are slightly wider than most cars.

Junction of Harborne Road and Richmond Hill Road

The changes to this junction are intended to reduce the speed of vehicles, especially those turning right out of Richmond Hill Road, which should reduce the likelihood of collisions.

The road surface on the whole of the junction will be raised by about 7.5cm (called a raised table) so that vehicles have to go up a small ramp as they approach. Bollards will be added on the edge of the footway to help people, especially those with visual impairments, identify where the footway ends and the road begins.

At the end of Richmond Hill Road left and right turning lanes will be created and the existing splitter island will be upgraded to a pedestrian refuge to help people crossing the road.

Junction of Harborne Road, Brook Road and Westfield Road

Many of the accidents reported at this junction involve vehicles travelling between Brook Road and Westfield Road colliding with those on Harborne Road.

We are proposing to permanently close the end of Brook Road, making it a cul-de-sac (no through road) with access from Richmond Hill Road only. The out of city bus stop near Brook Road which was moved as part of the bus lane trial will be returned to its previous location just south of Brook Road.

When the end of Brook Road is closed, we expect that drivers living on Brook Road will access Harborne Road via Richmond Hill Road. Drivers who are currently using Brook Road as part of a longer journey are likely to re-route via Nursery Road, so there may be a small increase in traffic at the junction of Nursery Road, Harborne Road, Metchley Lane and High Street.

What happens next?

After the consultation, we will review all your comments and make any appropriate changes to the plans. We will write to you again with further details on construction dates and how we intend to construct the scheme to minimise disruption.