Tag: roadworks

#365daysofbiking No through road

December 1st – Green Lane is a major rat run between Walsall Wood and Sheffield, and has been closed for some weeks for drainage work. Theoretically supposed to be reopening the next day, I went to see how the works were progressing.

Oh dear, I don’t think that’ll be open for a while yet. I guess bad weather must have really held them up.

Since there’s no pedestrian way around, looks like I’ll be coming back along the A461 for a week or so yet…

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#365daysofbiking The boys with the black stuff

September 13th – A day working from home, and I didn’t get out until late, so I went to investigate the road resurfacing taking place overnight between Ogley Road and Anchor Bridge on the High Street.

These operations always make for great night photos and I find the combination of lights, busy, coordinated people, noise and huge machinery being carefully marshalled captivating.

I wasn’t disappointed. The elegance of that curve of road plantings into the tipper truck is superb, too. Felt sorry for those living nearby with the noise, though – especially the elderly folk in Knaves Court. But still, has to be done.

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April 4th – I’d had to call into Aldridge after working late and returned via Streets Corner. I noted that the old wall to the 60s shopping precinct on the corner had gone, and excavations were underway.

This is the preparatory work for the next stage of local junction improvements work which will see this entire junction remodelled with new signals, slip roads and crossings.

Peaceful now in the gathering dusk, but a summer of inconvenience and holdups for motorists seems to be on the cards…

Shire Oak has been massively improved, however, so it’ll be worth it in the end.

October 26th – Another horrible, snatched image, but it shows a place I don’t go so much these days because it’s undergoing change which makes it hostile to cycling.

The Shire Oak Crossroads is an important junction in south Brownhills, with a landmark pub and atop a large hill. Carring to major routes, the traffic lights here have always been busy and daunting, and the junction is currently being remodelled, and is replete with barriers, closed footpaths and added, surprise potholes.

While it’s so unpredictable, it’s best avoided on a bike, particularly at night, as many drivers take wide corners or get confused with positioning.

Hopefully it’ll all work out better in the end.

February 9th – At the junction of Coppice Road and Brownhills Road in Walsall Wood, the junction is being remodelled for the new leisure centre, now nearing completion. It’ll be interesting to see what the finished road layout looks like, and how it functions. This is a horrid junction for pedestrians, cyclists and small vehicles, and it seems a bad one for corner cutting and being cut off from the right – particularly when turning left into Brownhills Road. 

I’m watching this one with interest. I hate this junction and I hope the changes improve it as much as possible.

November 12th – Bentley Mill Way at Bentley Bridge, between Darlaston and Walsall is closed for a major road improvement project, which seems to be starting quite slowly. As I passed today, there were a few groundworks going on and a JCB removing old tree stumps, but not much else. The closed road – that’s a surveyors car judging by the guy that got out of it – is flooded quite deeply now. 

It’ll be interesting to watch this project progress: I noted yesterday on Google Maps that it’s already showing Bentley Mill Way as being a dead end. Nifty.

June 14th – Headed out to Lichfield late afternoon, and battled the wind, fully loaded, on the way back. Returning down the Lichfield Road, I noticed the cones were out at Springhill for the construction of a new island junction for Springhill Cemetery, currently under construction to the right of the picture beyond the houses.

This has been delayed quite some time now, and has been locally controversial. it’ll be interesting to see how the development progresses.

April 17th – Someone asked me on twitter this week why Lynn Lane between Shenstone and Stonnall was closed. I had no idea it was, so tonight, I took a detour and checked it out. The lane is, indeed, barriered off at both ends, but roadworks that seem to have been taking place between Thornyhurst Lane and Raikes Lane seem to have finished now. There was certainly nothing to justify the closure when I passed this evening.

They may well be going to dig another hole, but one can’t help wondering why a road with no hazards remains shut.