Construction on the Metro extension to Digbeth will move further forward when works to upgrade utility services in Meriden Street get underway.
Works for the Birmingham Eastside Metro extension are already underway in Lower Bull Street and Digbeth High Street and more progress will be visible on the scheme when diversion works begin in Meriden Street next week.
The Midland Metro Alliance (MMA), working on behalf of Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), will be carrying out the essential activity in phases in preparation for main construction to start later in the year.
Initial activity got underway Tuesday 4 January when temporary traffic signals were installed on Allison Street ahead of Meriden Street becoming one way, between Coventry Street and Bordesley Street, from Monday 10 January. The essential activity will then switch to the other side of the road later in the programme before the works are completed in November.
Mosin Khurshid, Head of Utilities at MMA, said: “It is incredibly exciting to be progressing the Birmingham Eastside Metro extension even further this year with the start of works to uncover and upgrade the utilities in Meriden Street. Construction for this scheme has been well underway in parts of the city centre and Digbeth since late 2020 and I am delighted that we are now in a position to begin even more activity this time on Meriden Street.”
The £227 million Birmingham Eastside Metro extension will run from Bull Street, in the city centre, to Digbeth, adding four new tram stops to the Metro network. More than half of the 1.7km route is planned to be free of overhead wires, similar to the recently opened extension from Grand Central to Centenary Square.
Image credit: istockphoto.com
