Lights to be landmarks
Four 100ft street lights will tower over the Walsall skyline with the completion of the £17 million ring road development, highways chiefs have revealed.
Four 100ft street lights will tower over the Walsall skyline with the completion of the £17 million ring road development, highways chiefs have revealed.
Believed to be the tallest in the region, council leaders hope the columns at the Arboretum junction will become local landmarks.
The huge poles are inspired by similar designs in some major European cities and will help create a less-cluttered layout at the busy junction.
The announcement suggests light is at the end of the tunnel for motorists who have had to endure the roadworks for almost two years.
Councillor Anthony Harris, Walsall Council cabinet member for highways, said the new lights would become a familiar sight for residents and visitors to the borough. I am certainly not aware of street lights of this size in town centres anywhere else in the West Midlands," he said.
"These will be 30 metres high and are around three times the size of ordinary lights. Work on the concrete bases where the masts will be positioned is already well advanced. We are drawing up plans to put together the lighting masts away from the road and then install them using specialist lifting equipment in the early hours of a date to be decided."
Drivers have been left caught up in jams around the ring road for two years during the project.
It was hoped the work would be completed this summer but it is now expected to be finished by the end of the year.
"Contractors were called away by severe flooding earlier in the year but we are very pleased with the progress of what is a highly detailed £17 million scheme to help keep Walsall's roads moving," added Councillor Harris.