Near misses lead to calls for new crossing on busy Wolverhampton road
A campaign has been launched to have a pedestrian crossing installed on a busy through-road connecting two main routes into Wolverhampton city centre.
People in Wednesfield are appealing to the council for a crossing on Amos Lane at the junction with Bellamy Lane, after pedestrians expressed safety concerns in trying to cross the road to get to the park and school opposite.
The road forms a link between Wood End Road and Prestwood Road, which both subsequently give access to the main A4124 Wednesfield Road and the A460 Cannock Road, leading into the city centre.
As a result, the route is prone to regular heavy traffic – including a large number of HGVs – which has resulted in a number of residents reporting ‘near misses’ while trying to cross over to reach King George V Playing Fields and Wodensfield Primary School.
Councillor Phil Bateman has now written to highways officials at the council, expressing residents’ wishes for the road to be made safer.
He said: “There has been a long campaign to make Amos Lane safer for pedestrians wishing to cross from the Bellamy Lane junction to Woden Avenue and onwards to the school, the playing fields and Wednesfield village.
“Recently, other residents have also been complaining about what they see as an increase in HGVs along the road, and the potential dangers they cause to the lane’s carriageway and road surface.”
In a written reply to Councillor Bateman’s appeal, a spokesman for the council’s highways department said: “Pedestrian counts were undertaken on Amos Lane in the vicinity of Bellamy Lane in 2019 prior to the pandemic, in response to requests from residents and councillors for pedestrian crossing facilities.
“The surveys were split into four zones to fully assess crossing movements either side of the junction with Bellamy Lane. The zones covered an area of Amos Lane 50 metres either side for a full 12-hour daytime period.
“West Midlands personal injury accident database was also checked to ascertain whether there have been any pedestrian casualties on this section of Amos Lane in the last five years, and we can report that there have been no incidents resulting in injury to pedestrians during that time period.
“We also commissioned speed surveys on Amos Lane in 2018 and these showed that 85 per cent of speeds were 30mph, which raised no cause for concern at the time – as this suggests the vast majority of drivers are travelling at appropriate speeds.
“Obviously, we appreciate that these surveys were four years ago, and so the highways team will be asked to commission new surveys to see if there has been any change in overall speeds since then, and consider whether we need to take any interventions,” added the response.
“As you will be aware, our road safety budgets are limited and so we must target our resources to those locations with the highest risks based on statistical evidence.
“In this case, we would not currently be able to justify adding the request for a formal pedestrian crossing to our future schemes list in the 2022/23 Transportation Capital Programme.
“There is the possibility of installing ‘pedestrians crossing’ warning signs on the approaches to the Amos Lane/Bellamy Lane junction to warn motorists that there may be people crossing the road.”
Amos Lane is classified as a ‘significant local route’ on Wolverhampton’s Strategic Highway Network, which makes it an important connective passage.
Councillor Bateman added: “This is not the end of the issue. I am convinced that we must make Amos Lane safer, and that really does mean altering its appearance and its current safety regime. We also need to enhance pedestrians’ message to drivers using the route.”
