Businesses on Westside have breathed a collective sigh of relief after a week’s worth of essential repairs to the 14-month-old West Midlands Metro line were completed on time.
The 0.8 mile, £83.4 million extension had been in operation for just 420 days when the shutdown meant there were no bus or tram services along most of Broad Street from Sunday 10 to Saturday 16 September.
But after dedicated efforts by specialist repair teams, the road was reopened as scheduled at 6am yesterday (Sunday 17 September). You can watch our video of the repairs here:
Before the repairs began, the Midland Metro Alliance described them as ‘snagging works’ and ‘finishing works’.
But as well as replacing paved surfaces of around half a dozen crossing points with tarmac, other sections of Broad Street were also dug up, including bus and taxi bays which were resurfaced outside Symphony Hall and Rosie’s night club.
Sheepcote Street was also resurfaced between Broad Street and the Brindleyplace car park entrance, as well as a section of Broad Street outside the Travelodge hotel on the corner of Granville Street.
During the work, all car, taxi and delivery services had been able to use one side of the road between Gas Street and Berkeley Street, as well as authorised outbound vehicles from the Hyatt Hotel end of Bridge Street.
Sunday’s reopening of Broad Street coincided with the launch of the £50 million extension at the other end of the line which has created two new tram stops at Pipers Row and Wolverhampton Railway Station.
This move will vastly increase connectivity at that end of the line, with the prospect that more workers, concert goers and bar and restaurant guests will now be able to visit Westside’s famous ‘golden mile’ of hospitality venues.
Westside BID general manager Mike Olley gave a cautiously optimistic welcome to the return of Metro services to Broad Street, given it had only opened on 17 July 2022, seven months behind schedule.
Mr Olley said: “I think the repairs went rather smoothy and naturally I am thrilled that the street is now working as it was designed to. It’s a pity that the Freshers’ early days were interrupted, but all’s well that ends well.
“I was a little surprised at the scale of the works, but they’ve got on with it, they’ve done it and so I remain happy. I am now hoping the repairs will last a lot longer!”
ENDS
