Junction improvements planned for Plymouth Road

Plymouth City Council has approved work to upgrade junctions and reduce congestion along Plymouth Road in Plympton later this year.

The Eastern Corridor Junction Improvement Programme will see more modern and efficient signals installed, along with capacity improvements and upgraded pedestrian and cyclist facilities.

The first phase of the project will extend the right-turn lane to Cot Hill, creating extra space for waiting traffic and ensuring that the straight ahead lanes to Plympton are not blocked. The Larkham Lane and Woodford Avenue junctions will also be upgraded as part of this phase of the project.

Later phases of the programme will include upgrades to signalised junctions in Plymstock.

Partly funded through the Department for Transport, the project will improve traffic flow, journey times and bus service reliability along this busy route and will help support growth in the east of the city, where thousands of new jobs are to be created and 9,500 new homes planned to be built over the next 20 years.

Public consultation on the Cot Hill scheme will take place in the spring, before final designs are agreed. Construction work is expected to begin in the autumn.

Councillor Patrick Nicholson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Transport, Housing and Planning, said: “It’s really important to keep traffic flowing as Plymouth continues to grow and these improvements should help to reduce a lot of the queuing we see on Plymouth Road – which will benefit bus passengers as well as motorists. The programme will also make it easier and safer for people to walk and cycle along this busy route.”

The Department for Transport is contributing £2.1 million towards the £3.34 million programme, with the remainder being funded by the Council and developer contributions.

The decision was published today and may be subject to call-in for scrutiny.