Following the article about Beeston Hill Community Association’s meeting on 29 January 2024, Councillors Paul Wray and Mohammed Iqbal (Labour, Hunslet & Riverside) have been in touch to clarify the proposals to change the junction between Tempest Road and Dewsbury Road:
We just want to clarify what work is actually being considered at this junction following a significant number of potentially life-changing or fatal accidents.
Highways Leeds officers presented three potential options to ward councillors that could resolve, in their expert view, the ongoing issues of accidents at this junction.
All three options were not perfect and have downsides to them because there is no perfect solution to this particular problem.
The officers’ preferred option is to close the central reservation, removing the significant number of traffic conflicts without the need to alter access rights onto any road and thus creating a redistribution of traffic elsewhere. They asked councillors for their consent to progress work on this option, as is the normal process, and this was given.
This option would mean on and off rights between Dewsbury Road or Tempest Road would not be removed but would be shifted to the end of the reservation via a u-turn, should a driver need it.
This is the solution Highway Leeds are currently going through a technical consultation on before it goes to public consultation, assuming representations from West Yorkshire Police, Fire Service, etc do not raise an objection to the proposal.
This post is based on a press release issued by Councillors Paul Wray and Mohammed Iqbal
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I fail to see how doing a u-turn on Dewsbury Road is any safer than crossing it as vehicles do at the moment especially when you consider the speed that some people drive at on Dewsbury Road. Perhaps while they are looking at this matter the councillors can also look at the problem of people parking on the cycle path whilst they go to the shops across the road, often parking next to a sign saying it is not allowed. Since few people use the cycle path for what it is intended I don’t suppose it matters really though.