Major changes to A41 Warwick Road after years of traffic chaos, speeding drivers and flipping car going viral
New crossings and speed cameras are part of measures to improve road safety on a key Solihull route after residents had their say how £1 million for the project should be spent.
Residents along the A41 Warwick Road – the main route from Solihull to Acocks Green – have complained about traffic chaos and speeding drivers for years.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service previously reported Solihull Council secured £1.265m for the A41 Warwick Road safer roads fund project following a successful bid to the Department for Transport (DfT) which highlighted fatalities recorded over a 10-year period.
There were fatal crashes on the road in 2018, 2021 and 2022.
And in 2023 a video of a car flipping onto its side narrowly missing a woman and child on the road went viral on social media.
A six week consultation took place last year and at the latest meeting of the cabinet portfolio holders’ environment and infrastructure decision session Paul Tovey, head of service at Solihull Highways, said there had been a “positive response” from Warwick Road residents.
“We had over 1,100 people engage on the website which is really good to hear,” he said.
From the feedback, eight areas have been chosen to focus attention on:
- Installing average speed enforcement cameras along the route
- A humped zebra pedestrian crossing on Seven Star Road section and reduced speed limit to 30mph, with the northern parallel service road reduced to 20 mph
- New pedestrian crossing phase at the Warwick Road/Seven Star Road traffic signal controlled junction
- Upgrading the existing uncontrolled crossing point north of Wadleys Road to a humped zebra pedestrian crossing
- New humped zebra pedestrian crossing near the Dove Home Care nursing home
- Removal of an existing uncontrolled crossing point across Solihull Bypass to encourage pedestrians and cyclists to use the existing crossing at A41 / Hampton Lane / Yewtree Lane
- Installing new high reflective carriageway markings at key locations such as stop lines and give way markings
- A new education programme targeting vulnerable road users to highlight the safety risks along the road
Mr Tovey said: “The vast majority were supportive of the programme of measures we put forward. They all supported bringing forward average speed cameras, and a lot agreed with the additional pedestrian crossing facility.
“We can’t do everything – there were a lot of calls for measures to be done around the Dovehouse Parade/Warwick Road junction. That would have taken up so much of the budget we have decided not to take that forward at this stage.”
He added it was an “exciting time” and the measures would hopefully create a much safer environment for Solihull road users.
Councillor Kathyrn Thomas said: “Councillors really welcome this and are pleased a lot of the issues they have raised over the years are being tackled. I think (they are) particularly delighted with the average speed cameras because there has been a lot of concern about speeding.”
Councillor Ken Hawkins, the portfolio holder, said: “I’m grateful we have this funding – we want more and more funding from central government for these types of things.”
The cabinet portfolio holder agreed to implement the programme of road safety interventions during the meeting held virtually on February 17.