Both Streets Corner and Shire Oak are busy junctions with congestion issues, as this archive picture shows.

Lots of people have recently been asking about the pavement markings recently painted so colourfully on the roads and pavements at Streets Corner, Walsall Wood and the Shire Oak junction in Brownhills – well, the answer is at hand, with details of junction improvement scheme just released by Walsall Council.

The plans and press release are included below for your perusal, and there will be two ‘drop in sessions’ where you can speak to the team responsible for the works and art your vies – these will be at:

The Shire Oak Pub
Tuesday 11th July 2017 from 2:30pm until 8pm

Walsall Wood Youth Centre at Streets Corner (off the old Oak Park site)
Tuesday 25th July 2017 from 2pm until 8pm

Obviously the devil will be in the detail, but much will rely on how the phasing of the signals works and just how intelligent they are: obviously there will be disruption as the works take place, but both junctions are in need of improvement and you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.

Shire Oak in particular suffers from poor signalling and visibility of signals. Yes, an old archive picture…

Anything that improves the woeful signal sighting at Shire Oak has to be a good thing in my opinion.

Work will begin at Shire Oak over the summer holidays and Streets Corner in September, with both set to be completed by February 2018. It’s going to be a fun winter in the Hills….

What do you think? Most importantly, tell the team concerned at A461@walsall.gov.uk or the consultation events, but views welcome here, too. Comment or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

Walsall Council wrote:

The plan for improvements to Streets Corner, click for a larger version, or see the PDF link in the text. Image from Walsall Council.

A461 Lichfield Road – Junction Improvements Scheme

The A461 Lichfield Road is an arterial route, which runs in a north-easterly direction from Walsall town centre to the Borough boundary. It carries large volumes of traffic throughout the day which results in heavy congestion at peak times. The A461 junction improvement scheme seeks to address the issue of growing congestion and the lack of traffic capacity along this strategic route.

The scheme will target two locations – A461 Lichfield Road / B4152 Salter’s Road junction and A461 Lichfield Road / A452 Chester Road (Shire Oak) junction. Both will be widened to increase capacity, benefit from improved pedestrian facilities, and new traffic signals and communications technology installed to improve operation.

The junctions will be linked by an intelligent traffic signal system and controlled and monitored by the Urban Traffic Controller facility at the Black Country Urban Traffic Control Centre. The new traffic signal junction installed as part of the Oak Park leisure centre development will also be linked via the same intelligent system.

The first stage of the works for both junctions will be to divert the existing underground utility services. This is currently planned to start in the summer school holidays (2017) at Shire Oak and September 2017 at Salter’s Road.

Any planned disruption to utility services will be communicated in advance by the utility companies directly to their customers.

Both junctions are planned to be completed by February 2018

View plan of improvements at A461 Lichfield Road/Salter’s Road junction (pdf)
View plan of improvements at A461 Lichfield Road/A452 Chester Road (pdf)

For any further information please contact:

Donna Cattell
Senior Transport Planner
Email: A461@walsall.gov.uk
Phone: 01922 654659

Strategic Transportation – Economy & Environment Directorate
Zone 2J, 2nd Floor,
Civic Centre,
Walsall Council, Darwall Street,
Walsall WS1 1DG

The plan for improvements to Shire Oak, click for a larger version, or see the PDF link in the text. Image from Walsall Council.