Tesco pledges to improve Dudley store junction
Supermarket giant Tesco says it will help highway chiefs improve a busy junction outside its store in Dudley following claims it was not effectively easing congestion.
Dudley Council leader Councillor David Sparks criticised the Burnt Tree traffic junction near to the Tesco Extra store at a council meeting last month.
He described the £12.3million junction as “scandalous” and demanded urgent improvements.
Councillor Sparks claimed the junction, opened two years ago, had become undermined by a smaller T-junction outside Tesco Extra.
Today, a spokesman from Tesco, which opened the Burnt Tree store shortly after the junction’s completion, said: “We understand that this is a busy area, which is why we invested in the local community and worked with the council to make improvements to the roads around the store when it first opened.
“If the community has concerns, we would be very happy to discuss these further.”
The Burnt Tree traffic light junction saw the notorious roundabout on the border of Dudley and Tipton transformed into a crossroads. It links the A412 and A461, and is the main route from Dudley to Birmingham and the motorway network .
Speaking at Dudley Borough Council’s full council meeting, Councillor Sparks called for an investigation into the junction, claiming it had made little difference to traffic flow.
He suggested the lights at the Tesco junction should be recalculated, or a give-way junction be installed instead.