Roundabout plan for A449
Traffic lights on Wolverhampton's A449 Stafford Road could be replaced by a roundabout to reduce jams under radical new plans revealed today.
Traffic lights on Wolverhampton's A449 Stafford Road could be replaced by a roundabout to reduce jams under radical new plans revealed today.
Bosses of Peel Retail Park, home to JJB Sports, Focus DIY and Fabric Warehouse, say trade is suffering as drivers cannot cut across the dual carriageway to get into the car park.
Peel Holdings, which also owns the Trafford Centre in Manchester, is prepared to shell out millions of pounds to rip out the traffic lights at the junction with Cannock Road and build a signal-controlled roundabout.
At the moment customers leaving the car park and wanting to head north towards Stafford cannot turn right.
Instead they are forced to turn left and either head back towards the city centre and around the ring road to get to the opposite side of the carriageway, or turn on to Cannock Road and crawl through industrial estates to reach the Five Ways Island.
Mark Saunders, agent for Peel Holdings, confirmed a planning application had now been lodged with Wolverhampton council.
He said: "Peel Holdings own a number of retail parks around the country and this one does not perform as well as some others. It is suffering because of access problem.
Our surveys show the junctions are regularly working at capacity at peak times so by paying for the works, we hope to address the problems at the retail park."
Council spokesman Tim Clark said: "Clearly any changes to this stretch of road could have huge implications for traffic flow so the plans have to be examined extremely carefully."