Nine months of roadworks will begin on one of York’s busiest roads next week

Roadworks lasting most of next year will begin on a key York route from next week.

Tadcaster Road, one of the busiest roads in York, will enjoy a £6.4 million upgrade, with works starting on Monday, 2 January.

The estimated completion date is September.

“This work is needed to create a safer and attractive environment for all road users but particularly for people using active or sustainable means to travel,” says City of York Council.

“We’ve set ambitious but necessary targets to become a net zero carbon economy by 2030. To achieve this we need to give priority to public transport and increase safety of walking and cycling to help make more efficient use of road space and promote healthy active travel modes.”

The proposed walking, cycling and bus improvement scheme aims to achieve this by:

• making improvements to support and encourage people to walk, cycle and use the bus
• making travelling by bus more convenient and reliable
• creating safer and more attractive routes for people on bikes and on foot.

Ahead of the main construction phase, a series of drop-in sessions were held in November and there’s another chance for residents, key stakeholders and businesses to see hear about the works and what the scheme will look like.

The drop-in session will take place at Edward’s Church Community Hall, Tadcaster Road on Sunday 8 January 12.30 – 4pm.

Executive member for transport at City of York Council Cllr Andy D’Agorne said: “This is a major scheme to introduce additional walking, cycling and bus improvements on one of York’s busiest routes.

“Thousands of residents, students and visitors use this route every day and it’s great news that in addition to the £5million funding to upgrade Tadcaster Road, to reduce localised flooding, we’ve been able to combine the scheme with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority funded plan to make additional improvements to create safer and more convenient routes for cycling and walking along and across Tadcaster Road.

“It’s a great opportunity to be able to combine the two schemes, so that the level of disruption for residents, businesses and visitors is reduced as much as possible.”

The council says the proposed scheme will help:

• reduce congestion
• improve air quality
• improve the health and wellbeing of residents
• improve the quality of the overall highway
• resurface the route so it is fit-for-purpose
• deliver improvements to the road’s drainage
• reduce localised surface water flooding
• improve the route for motorists and cyclists
• support the local economy and the wider area
• ensure the road is maintenance-free for the next 10 years.

The multi-million pound scheme is being funded and delivered by the council in partnership with the Department for Transport (Local Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund: £5m) and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (Transforming Cities Fund: £1.4m).