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Green light for bus bid after FIVE years
IT'S taken five years, but a bid to ease congestion on one of Leeds's busiest commuter routes has finally got the green light.
Government ministers yesterday revealed they will fund the A65 Kirkstall Road quality bus initiative after a series of hold-ups.
The 20m project will see high-speed bus lanes put in place between Kirkstall Bridge and the Leeds Inner Ring Road slip road, near Wellington Street.
It is hoped the move will tempt drivers out of their cars by cutting public transport journey times on the route by an average of 10 minutes during peak periods.
At present around 40,000 vehicles a day use the A65, the main gateway into Leeds city centre for commuters travelling from places such as Horsforth, Guiseley and Yeadon.
Yesterday's announcement was welcomed by Leeds West MP John Battle, who predicted the bus corridor would make a big difference to people living and working in the area.
The city council's deputy leader, Andrew Carter, hailed the decision as a step in the right direction – but also said it was "long overdue".
He said: "This has been put back and back and back. Getting money for transport out of this government is like pulling teeth."
The A65 bus initiative was initially given the go-ahead at the end of 2001.
However, concerns about rising costs forced Leeds to return to the drawing board before submitting the revised plan now approved by Whitehall.
The scheme was one of five major transport projects in Yorkshire and the Humber given the thumbs-up yesterday.
The others included a 15m bridge-strengthening programme designed to reduce the number of heavy goods vehicles having to take diversions through residential areas in Kirklees.
Joy at that local success was tempered, though, by confirmation that the Government is to plough 520m into an extension to the Manchester Metrolink tram network.
The Department for Transport sparked fury in Leeds at the end of last year when it pulled the plug on the city's 500m light rail plan, saying it did not represent value for money.
Civic chiefs are looking to fill the gap left by the collapse of Supertram with a state-of-the-art bus rapid transit system, although the Government has already said it is unlikely to receive funding before 2009.
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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Wind direction: East
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