£150,000 new road layout at bus station

Delays to Wolverhampton's £176 million rail and bus station project mean a new road layout will have to be created at an a cost of £150,000.

It is needed to get cars and taxis to the rail station as a plan already approved was only meant as a temporary measure.

The £22.5m bus station is due to be completed in summer.

The larger £154m rail station, offices, bars and hotel project is short of funding and cannot start.

Wolverhampton City Council approved a scheme for traffic to go along Railway Drive and Fryer Street towards Broad Street as it does now.

However, bosses said traffic and cyclists needed to be able to go down Lichfield Street, past the Grand Theatre, to avoid congestion at peak times.

Buses will use a filter lane being built on Ring Road St David's rather than entering and exiting down Lichfield Street as they used to.

The council proposes the current roundabout in Victoria Square, by the Britannia Hotel, becomes a crossroads and traffic lights.

Drivers heading towards the bus station would no longer be allowed to turn around at the bottom of Lichfield Street and in Victoria Square.

Instead, cars and buses will be directed off Lichfield Street into Fryer Street towards Broad Street.

In a report highways chief David Orton said: "The subsequent detailed design process has revealed that the approved scheme is not in fact the optimum solution for this junction, given that it will need to clear for rail station traffic at least into the medium term.

"A modified scheme has thus been prepared for consideration. A review of the approved concept design has revealed a more efficient solution in terms of managing peak flows."

City Mayor Malcolm Gwinnett said today it was a lot of money to spend on modifications but added: "Some of the entrances were too just tight."

Work on the bus station started in April. It has created a new landmark, with a two-storey station building and three long bus stands covered with white roofs.