With the Commonwealth Games fast approaching (starting 28th July) a lot of the work being undertaken by the Midland Metro Alliance to extend the West Midlands Metro network is being suspended. This is most noticeable in Birmingham City Centre where the contractors have even gone as far as laying temporary tarmac where track will be laid on the Eastside extension.
The Birmingham Eastside extension – which does not have an estimated opening date yet – leaves the current city centre line at the junction of Bull Street and Corporation Street and will run for 1.7km through to High Street Deritend. It will go via the new HS2 station at Curzon Street (and works have to tie in with that which is why there has been a reluctance to give an opening year for the line) and Birmingham Coach Station with four new stops due to be built.
As the eyes of the Commonwealth will be on Birmingham during the Games it has been decided that the nasty unsightly barriers which have been in Lower Bull Street for some time should be removed, opening up the area to visitors and locals alike. This has necessitated the laying of a temporary tarmac surface – a surface which will be removed once the Commonwealth Games have finished to allow the construction work to get underway once more.
Whilst this part of the route has been tidied up for now, there will still be other small-scale works taking place on the rest of this route with work on the Brierley Hill extension continuing as planned throughout.
Work underway on Lower Bull Street to reinstate the road surface. The tracks in the foreground are those leading from the delta junction at Bull Street/Corporation Street. (Photograph by Mark Cufflin, 9th July 2022)
The general scene at the junction showing continued work to put a surface back down.
A view along Lower Bull Street with work continuing to put the new – and temporary – road surface down. (Photographs x2 by Andy Walters, 13th July 2022)