Armley Gyratory, Leeds: Construction of major route into Leeds City Centre enters its next phase to replace 50-year-old footbridges

The removal of the Spence Lane footbridge over the Armley Gyratory begins later this month and will be the first of three footbridges that will be removed and replaced with new footbridges with more accessible footways, set to complete next year.

The main purpose behind the Armley Gyratory scheme is to offer improvements for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as enhancing accessibility, and replacing the existing footbridges over Gelderd Road and Spence Lane.

The footbridges were built in the early 1970s; this next phase is part of plans to install accessible ramps to better meet the needs of non-motorised users and people with disabilities.

All the new upgraded footbridges have been designed to make sure they will need less maintenance work and inspection, over future decades.

Spence Lane is a four-span footbridge with the largest of the spans, stretching 22.6 metres and weighing around 50 tonnes and it will be removed by one of the world’s most powerful all-terrain cranes.

To allow for this work to be carried out, motorists are warned that there will be a weekend partial closure, from 8pm on Friday, September 29, 2023 to 5.30pm on Monday, October 2, 2023.

With the approach to the Ingram Distributor (A643) closed and Wellington Road exit closed from the south, re-opening outside of these hours with lane restrictions.

There will be further partial weekend closures to complete the works which will be announced on the project page on the Leeds City Council website.

For the Armley Gyratory footway for people walking or wheeling, there will be a diversion in place until spring 2024, while works take place on constructing the new bridges.

So far, phase two Armley structure programme will include:

- Spence Bridge (2a) Spring 2024 bridge construction completion.

- Gelderd Bridge (2a) Spring 2024 - plans for removal and construction over single-weekend.

- Wellington Road Bridge (2b) removal and construction anticipated summer 2024.

The Armley Gyratory highways phase one works are substantially complete, with some additional remedial surfacing and lining to take place shortly on partial night-time closures.

The completed works include the widening of the central gyratory and entry island approaches, linking to creating additional lane capacity, the carriageway pavement/widening build-up construction and vehicle restraint system and underground drainage.

The next phase of work is to complete installation of new traffic signals, street lighting and progress landscaping which includes new trees.

These improvements are planned to increase capacity on the Leeds inner ring road and M621 and reduce city centre through-traffic, following the closure of City Square last year.

Once the Armley Gyratory is complete, it will:

- Provide more appealing and accessible routes for both cyclists and pedestrians

- Improve safety for all road users

- Allow traffic to flow more freely, minimising traffic impacts on local roads

- Improve the local environment through new landscaping - and

- Help facilitate improvements elsewhere in the city, including removal of through traffic at City Square

Coun Helen Hayden, Leeds City Council’s executive member for sustainable development and infrastructure, said: “We’ve achieved a major milestone after completing resurfacing works on the Armley Gyratory, which already shows signs of accommodating more vehicles and improving traffic flow around the ring road.

“We’d like to thank everyone for their ongoing patience throughout the summer, whilst the road surfacing took place. I would also like to thank the project team and contractor for carrying out these complex works through some poor weather conditions during the summer holidays.

“The next phases of work represent transformative changes to the overhead footways for people walking and wheeling – making it easier to get across the gyratory, either going or away from the city centre. Again, we appreciate some patience while we continue to work hard to minimise disruption and thank those who have already changed the way they travel into and around the city centre.

“I look forward to seeing these new footway structures built and open by the summer next year.”