Plans unveiled for £7m footbridge over ring road

Plans have been put forward to build a new footbridge above a collision blackspot in Leeds.

Leeds City Council wants to put a bridge over a section of the city's outer ring road between Calverley and Farsley.

A planning application outlining the details said the current layout of the road was "dangerous", with a number of collisions between vehicles recorded in recent years.

A final decision on the scheme is likely to be made early next year.

Papers attached to the application said building the bridge would restore a historic pedestrian link between Calverley and Farsley, which was "severed" in the 1970s when the ring road was built.

They said: "There is a long-standing speed-related collision problem along this section of the ORR (outer ring road)."

The documents said the scheme would encourage walking and cycling and was "a reaction to collisions resulting from the dangerous existing layout", which currently has an unmarked crossing.

The road's speed limit was recently reduced to 50mph, but there is no island between the two sides of the road.

Expected to cost around £7m, the design of the footbridge was likened in the application to a musical treble clef.

Labour councillor for the Calverley and Farsley ward, Peter Carlill, backed the plans.

He told the BBC: "The footbridge itself will be a really important connection, because before the ring road you could actually walk between the two villages."

He added: "The ring road has meant that route is somewhat cut off and it's separated people from the two different areas.

"Now that Farsley has the nightlife it has now, more people have wanted to walk between the two places.

"This will make that a lot safer."

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