Major A38 proposals in Birmingham: What’s changing for motorists

Snaking its way through Birmingham and dividing the city centre is the A38, a major road that many Brummies will be very familiar with.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that huge proposed changes to where motorists can join and leave the road have proved deeply divisive.

If they are approved, the plans would leave the A38’s Dartmouth Circus-Lancaster Circus junctions, to the north of the city centre, and the Holloway Circus-Belgrave Interchange, to the south, as the only two ‘weaving sections’ where drivers heading to the city centre could both enter and leave the route.

Three key junctions between those points would be restricted depending on whether motorists wanted to join or leave the A38. With opinion split over the proposals on social media, I decided to go for a trip on the A38, driving from south of the city centre to the Children’s Hospital to see how the proposals would affect this particular journey to a key location.

As I ventured up the road towards the heart of the city, passing sights such as the O2 Academy and the Mailbox, I was struck by the potential impact that the proposed changes could have.

They would mean traffic heading northwards, like I was, I couldn’t leave the A38 at three key ‘weaving sections’ between the south and north sides of the city centre.

As the map shows, they are:

Paradise Circus – Holloway Circus (D)

St Chads – Paradise Circus (C)

Lancaster Circus – St Chads (B)

Anyone who uses these points to get into work or home could soon find themselves having to take a different route if the changes are given the green light.

“Under the proposals, private vehicle access will be maintained to all parts of the city but the route may change,” a spokesperson for Birmingham City Council recently acknowledged.

As I reached the Queensway Tunnel and traffic began to worsen, I also thought about what the proposals could mean for congestion in and around the centre of Birmingham.

The council wants to cut the number of private cars using local roads in the city centre and increase use of the city’s ring road – but this has proved controversial among some social media users.

“So put all the traffic on the notoriously stationary ring road,” Giles Halton wrote in response to the proposals. “Great.”

Others are more optimistic however, saying the proposals could improve the traffic situation in streets across the city centre.

Campaign group Better Streets for Birmingham argued they would make “vital progress”, adding: “The city centre is increasingly becoming a collection of expanding neighbourhoods where it makes little sense to continue having vast amounts of through-traffic using inappropriate local streets.

“When I first moved to Birmingham 25 years ago I was astonished to see what is effectively an urban motorway cutting the city centre in half,” Coun Liz Clements, former transport cabinet member, added on X, formerly Twitter. “Great to see this consultation on the A38 getting underway: we need to reduce dramatically the volume of traffic.”

Birmingham City Council has also said it is “essential” that it frees up space previously allocated to private vehicles as the city centre is transformed.

“Reducing miles travelled by car will improve air quality and encourage greater use of active travel,” a consultation page on the new proposals reads.

“We understand the city needs to keep moving and efficient access is essential to all”.

I continued on to Lancaster Circus – but under the new proposals, I would not be able to exit the A38 here to get to the Children’s Hospital as I can currently.

Instead I went further north to the roundabout at Dartmouth Circus before heading back south onto Lancaster Circus and St Chads Queensway – it was here I could turn onto Whittall Street and then Steelhouse Lane to reach the main entrance of the hospital.

This detour may have just added a few minutes onto my journey but it does go to show how motorists travelling from the south side of the city could soon have to embark on a longer route to the hospital.

“Access and egress routes to and from the car parks listed on the Birmingham Children’s Hospital website are shown in the ‘summary of key proposals and signed routes’ section of the consultation page,” a council spokesperson recently said.

“The proposals will help prioritise public transport and active travel, while providing more efficient access for all by creating a simplified road network with a more balanced use of road space across all modes of transport.”

If the proposals go ahead, northbound private vehicles could also use a route to the hospital which consists of the following: A4540 Ring Road, A47 Jennens Road, Park Street, Masshouse Lane, Moor Street Queensway, James Watt Queensway, Dale End, Newton Street, Corporation Street and Steelhouse Lane.

The council has said the proposed measures would complete the ‘movement and access arrangement’ which includes six traffic management areas: Jewellery Quarter, Knowledge Quarter, Eastside, Southside, Westside South and Westside North.

“Private vehicles will be able to enter each area from the ring road only,” the consultation page says.

“Private vehicles will not be able to travel directly between the different areas but public transport and active travel modes will be able to.

“This means the route to a particular destination might change slightly, but all locations will remain accessible”.

Residents have until November 18 to respond to the consultation. It can be found on the Birmingham Be Heard website here.