Safety work at city bottleneck

A bottleneck junction on Wolverhampton’s Tettenhall Road is set to be widened.

A long-awaited £500,000 safety scheme is set to start within weeks. Work to widen the congested Tettenhall Road at its junction with Henwood Road and Lower Street will go ahead early next year – two years after the plans were first unveiled.

Council bosses said the scheme had been delayed due to negotiations over acquiring part of a car park belonging to Majestic Wines which was needed to allow the widening work to go ahead.

The notorious junction is controlled by traffic lights but has been the scene of several accidents.

Councillors and residents have been calling for action to improve conditions at the junction for years, claiming it is “an absolute nightmare”

As well as widening work the width of footpaths are also set to be increased and the roads will be given anti-skid surfaces.

Wolverhampton City Council spokesman Tim Clark said: “The delays have been due to negotiations about acquiring part of the car park.

“The negotiations are ongoing but the scheme is still on track.

“We are expecting work to start early in the New Year.”

Tettenhall and Regis Councillor Barry Findlay said: “It is an absolute nightmare of a junction. It is probably one of the worst in the city.

“It is actual quite frightening trying to turn at the junction and there have been a few accidents.

“Residents often ask that something is done to improve it and so any work to make the junction safer gets my 100 per cent support.”

Meanwhile workers are preparing to narrow a busy road nearby in a bid to slow down speeding drivers.

Wightwick Bank, near to the popular Wightwick Manor, will be narrowed in three places as part of a £70,000 safety programme.

The 10-week project is due to start on December 3.