Sandwell Council has begun work on a series of 38 new priority road safety projects across the borough as part of its Community Road Safety Concern Programme this year.
Six are already completed or nearing completion and more are on the way.
Over the past 25 years, Sandwell has halved the number of casualties on its roads, including reducing child casualties by 60 per cent. This significant reduction follows a long-term programme of targeted engineering measures, road safety education, and support for police enforcement action.
The council is continuing this work through its Community Road Safety Concern Programme, which focuses on locations where residents, councillors and MPs have raised repeated safety concerns – even in places where accident records have not previously met the thresholds set out in the council’s Strategic Road Safety Plan 2024–2030.
The six projects that have already commenced and are complete or nearing completion are:
Newton Road / Monksfield Avenue, Great Barr – New traffic signals with pedestrian call button facilities
Cherry Tree Avenue and surrounding roads, Yew Tree – Traffic calming
Thimblemill Road, Smethwick – Traffic calming
Pap Pap Bridge, Springfield Lane, Rowley – New traffic signal control
Regent Road, Tividale – New zebra crossing by school
Londonderry Road, Oldbury – New zebra crossing between the rows of shops
Design work for other projects is ongoing, and delivery will continue throughout 2026. Some schemes will require statutory consultation with residents, while others will progress more quickly depending on their scope.
Councillor Keith Allcock, Cabinet Member for Environment and Highways at Sandwell Council, said: “By investing in these schemes, we are improving safety in places that matter most to residents, especially for children, pedestrians and cyclists.
“This investment of £3.5million highlights how Sandwell is a caring council that listens to our residents and gets things done.”