Putney Road West Highway Improvements, Leicester

The scheme was procured via the Midlands Highways Alliance. Balfour Beatty approached Danaher & Walsh early in the project lifecycle to work in partnership to plan and deliver the works.

Putney Road was closed to traffic at its Western end many years prior. This scheme involved the opening up of Putney Road at the existing Aylestone Road / Saffron Lane junction, providing a restored orbital link between Welford Road (A5199) and Aylestone Road (A426) – two key radials for traffic in the south of the city.

The purpose of this is to improve journey times, remove traffic from smaller residential roads, encourage use of sustainable modes of transport and support development opportunities on the Freemen’s Common industrial estate.

The main elements of the works included construction of a new section of road to join Putney Road West onto the junction of Aylestone Road and Saffron Lane, as well as the widening of Aylestone Road and Saffron Lane at their junction.

Existing splitter islands were removed and new islands constructed as part of a complete reconfiguration of the busy junction.

On Putney Road and Commercial Square, the footways were widened and two-way segregated cycleways installed.

Critical to the success of this scheme was carefully planned phasing and traffic management works to help maintain traffic flows on this very busy section of Leicester’s highway network.

As part of Danaher & Walsh’s and Balfour Beatty’s commitment to delivering social value, voluntary works were carried out at the nearby Braunstone Frith Primary School. A joint project team carried out playground improvement works, landscaping, and donated play equipment.