£1.8m safety upgrade begins at blackspot at Pipehill

WORK started this week on the long-awaited £1.8 million upgrade on a key road linking Lichfield and Burntwood.

Monday saw the first sod cut in upgrading the Pipehill junction between the A5190 Lichfield Road and the A461 Walsall Road.

The 'notorious' crossroads has seen 18 accidents over the last five years, two of them serious – leading to it being dubbed a priority by Staffordshire County Council's highways department.

"Safety is of paramount priority for the county council and this scheme reflects that view," said Councillor Terry Finn.

"Pipehill is an extremely busy junction and, with the ever-increasing volume of traffic on the roads, we are keen to ensure that the possibility of accidents taking place is minimised."

The area is a well-known congestion hotspot both morning and evening, with commuter traffic flowing from Burntwood, Lichfield and the A5 all converging.

Roadworks are expected to take 32 weeks, from next Monday, to replace the existing four-way traffic light junction.

Instead, Lichfield Road will be realigned to meet Walsall Road 350 metres further north, at a brand new roundabout.

Once the new junction is complete, the full length of Lichfield Road from Burntwood to Pipehill will be regulated to 50mph.

As well as tackling peak time congestion, the plan is designed to protect valuable heathland surrounding the existing junction.

The wildlife habitat is classified as a grade one site of biological interest.

Careful landscaping will include the planting of trees and heather, 'extensive' new hedgerows and natural drainage ditches.

"Environmental considerations have been addressed," added Cllr Erica Bayliss, who also took part in Monday's sod-cutting ceremony.

"Solutions have been reached to minimise as much as possible any detrimental effects on people living nearby and to protect the woodland.

"This is a very complex scheme and members of the highways team have had to work through some difficult issues to get to this point."

This month will also see Lichfield's £2.1 million southern bypass open to traffic, linking Walsall Road through The Friary roundabout on Birmingham Road, serving Darwin Park housing estate.

The junction with Clay Pit Lane and Fosseway Lane will also be re-opened at the same time as the bypass, next Wednesday, February 10.

Work on the bypass was halted in March 2009 after the collapse of contractor Wrekin but began again last summer with the appointment of Birse Civils Ltd.

As well as the 200 metre carriageway, the new Sandfields Railway Bridge has been built on the mothballed Lichfield to Walsall freight line.