A new purpose built bridge is to be installed on Birmingham New Road starting from December as work on the Dudley extension of the West Midlands Metro continues. Preliminary activity took place back in the summer and now with the next stage of the project set to start in the first few days of December locals are being urged to plan ahead before travelling.
The next stage of the work starts on Friday 1st December and will see some localised road and footpath closures being put into place. This will be for approximately 100 metres in either direction of the iconic Hanson’s bridge. It will only be a short-term closure though as its planned that the road will be open again by Tuesday 5th December. Work to install the new bridge will then continue sometime in 2024.
Tom Maplethorpe, Project Director for the Midland Metro Alliance, said: “The start of works to install the final bridge for the first phase of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill scheme is an exciting milestone in the delivery programme. When these works are completed, it will mean that all the bridges along the route will be in place ready for the Metro’s opening.”
It is still planned that phase one of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension will open in late 2024. This will add nine new stops to the line and will see the tramway reach Dudley ahead of further phases in the future.
If this opens in 2024 I’ll eat a tram
They haven’t connected line 1 to line 2, which will be fun meaning no trams for months between Wednesbury and Edgbaston, and maybe parkway to wolves