£5m city link road scheme completed

The project was part funded by a £3.2m government grant

A £5m project to build a link road between Leicester’s Welford Road and Aylestone Road has been completed.

Leicester City Council said the Putney Road Link Road was designed to create a shorter route for traffic moving east to west across the southern part of the city.

It is also intended to relieve congestion on the southern ring road.

The project was part funded by £3.2m from the government’s National Productivity Investment Fund.

Traffic can now travel from Welford Road and Victoria Park Road through a remodelled Putney Road to a new junction connecting it with Aylestone Road and Saffron Lane.

Council officers said the scheme would also save around 340 tonnes of CO2 each year, and combined with other council road schemes nearby, meant it was now possible to travel via a segregated cycle lane between Leicester station and the King Power Stadium.

Redevelopment by the University of Leicester at its new Freemen’s Common Campus, on Welford Road, is closely linked with the Putney Road scheme.

Leicester's deputy city mayor for transport, clean air and climate emergency, Adam Clarke, said: “The Putney Road Link Road scheme will reduce journey times, cut traffic pollution and deter drivers from cutting through smaller residential streets in Knighton Fields in order to take a shortcut from the east to the west of the city.”