Birmingham: Transport bosses are surveying people who live, work or travel along Hagley Road and Broad Street ahead of major road and tram developments on one of the busiest routes into Birmingham city centre.
Carried out by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), the poll aims to find out how people use the corridor, along with what would make them change their travel habits.
This comes as preparations get underway for the next stage of the Birmingham Westside Metro extension to Edgbaston and the introduction of bus priority measures along Hagley Road later in the summer.
Investigation work will also begin shortly to prepare for a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route, Sprint which will connect the Hagley Road with High Speed Rail (HS2) at Curzon Street, Birmingham Airport and the NEC, by 2026.
Having already received 1,000 responses from the public, the survey will identify the most popular times and ways people travel, helping TfWM develop journey planning solutions to give people more choices during disruption.
Those taking the survey will be entered in a draw to win a £30 High Street gift voucher.
Solutions which could be explored, include:
- Advising when and how to travel to avoid the busiest times
- Supporting people to car share
- Exploring off peak ticket offers
- Identifying the busiest routes and most popular journeys and providing alternatives
- Working with local businesses to provide advice and support with car share schemes, cycling benefits, corporate ticketing, and flexible working schemes.
While this work takes place there will be further temporary changes to roads and road junctions to keep people who travel by bus, moving.
This will include giving buses priority via new bus lanes, at traffic lights and introducing temporary traffic lights at some junctions.
Roads and public transport will be busier than normal while essential work takes place this summer and throughout 2019. Advice from local transport bosses is people should plan ahead, leave more time for their journeys and consider switching to public transport.
Anne Shaw, director of network resilience, TfWM said: “This essential work along the Hagley Road starting this summer will improve travel links between the Westside of Birmingham and the rest of the West Midlands.
“There there will be some disruption to journeys in the short term however, so we are encouraging people to think about the way they travel and if they can do anything differently.
“We know it’s not easy making a change, and not everyone is able to, but the answers from the survey will identify those people who need our support to make a change and allow us to explore and create a range of tools to help them do it.
“You will still be able to get to where you need to go during the works but you’ll need to plan ahead and in some cases make changes to your journey to avoid delays.”
The Midland Metro Alliance has also released a new image today showing how West Midland Metro services will look along Broad Street, Birmingham’s vibrant entertainment district, when the extension is completed late 2021.
Speaking about the new artist’s impression, Paul Brown, construction director of Midland Metro Alliance, said: “Feedback from some of our recent public info sessions along Broad Street has been that people would like to see what a tram would like when travelling along this iconic part of the city.”
Work to keep bus passengers moving while the developments take place will ramp up in coming months. People can find out more about these plans and how their journey may be affected at one of the following sessions:
- Wednesday 10th April 4-7pm, Best Western Plough and Harrow Hotel, 135 Hagley Rd, Birmingham B16 8LS
- Thursday 11th April 10-3pm WMCA exhibition bus, Brindlyplace Birmingham
- Thursday 25th April 10-3pm WMCA exhibition bus, Broad Street, Birmingham
To take the survey and be in with a chance of winning £30 High Street gift voucher please visit: www.networkwestmidlands.com/
To sign up for travel updates about the Hagley Road and Five Ways area please click here. https://confirmsubscription.
