Armley Gyratory plan critical for Leeds city centre

The scheme aims to cut the number of vehicles travelling through the city centre

A £40m scheme to widen a main route in and out of Leeds is "critical" to cutting the number of vehicles passing through the city centre.

Planned improvements to Armley Gyratory include widening roads, replacing footbridges and better signalling.

The scheme, funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), will be split into two phases and should be completed next year.

The authority's finance committee agreed to release £28m to begin work.

Improving the capacity on the gyratory is considered essential to carrying redirected traffic away from the city centre and onto the inner ring road and the M621 orbital route.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, WYCA officer Melanie Corcoran told the committee one aim was to close Leeds City Square to through traffic.

She said the scheme would help "reduce the volume of that traffic going through the city centre unnecessarily".

"The works at Armley Gyratory are critical to improving the capacity and to allow traffic to be routed away from the city centre."

The entire scheme is due to be completed by late 2023

The first phase work includes:

• Increasing capacity on the A643, between the railway bridge and the gyratory, increasing from three lanes to five

• The new Canal Street stop line will increase from two to five lanes, while the A647 approach will be widened, removing the left free flow turn and providing five signal-controlled lanes

• Technology will also be used to help signals be more adaptive to traffic, and to create "virtual bus priority measures"

Second phase works in 2023 will include the demolition and replacement of the Wellington Road and Gelderd Road footbridges.

Ms Corcoran warned there would be an initial increase in carbon emissions around the gyratory, but claimed this would decline as more electric vehicles took to the roads.

Leeds City Council's leader James Lewis said the plan would improve access to the city centre for cyclists and pedestrians and help improve air quality in the city centre.