£90k on traffic lights at Wolverhampton bus station

Traffic lights are to be installed outside Wolverhampton's new £22.5 million bus station to make it safer for pedestrians crossing the road.

Wolverhampton City Council is to spend £90,000 on the traffic lights and pedestrian crossing project at the junction of Pipers Row and Queen Street.

It is being created amid concerns for pedestrians' safety almost a year after the bus station opened.

Bosses said it had been their plan to use the square in front of the station as a "shared area" for pedestrians and vehicles.

But they said they had seen a number of "prohibited vehicles" abusing the pedestrian zone and that they were responding to concerns raised by members of the public.

The new bus station marked the first phase in a wider project to create a transport "interchange" by also transforming the city's railway station and linking the two together.

A new rail station has been in the pipeline for many years and council bosses are seeking more than £20 million of public money to kickstart the project.

Transport development manager Lydia Barnstable said: "Following the completion of the first phase of the Interchange project to construct the new bus station, a safety audit was carried out.

"This identified that a controlled crossing point in front of the main entrance of the bus station at the junction of Queen Street and Pipers Row would significantly improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians."

Former councillor Paddy Bradley, who oversaw the work on the bus station during its construction, said: "I do wonder where the money has come from to do this."

"If pedestrian safety was such a concern then this really should have been done in the first place."

A date for the work has not yet been set but would require the council to place legal notices before carrying it out.

The council said the work would also be of benefit to pedestrians with "limited mobility or visual impairment".