Scheme aims to reduce journey times between North and South Solihull

EFFORTS to cut agonising journey times between North and South Solihull were given a major boost last week.
Solihull Council has claimed that the Lode Lane Project - a £1.7m scheme to improve the flow of traffic - could reduce journeys by six to eight minutes.
Announcing the proposals at Solihull College last week, Councillor Ian Courts said the scheme would tackle the long-standing difficulties of people travelling from one side of the borough to another.
Lode Lane - one of the main routes into Solihull town centre - gets notoriously congested during peak times and problems are made worse by the sheer volume of vehicles leaving the Land Rover factory.
The build up of traffic, combined with the design of bus routes, mean that it can take well over an hour to travel from the town centre to Castle Bromwich for those who can't drive.
While a detailed plan is yet be announced, the Leader of the Council, Bob Sleigh, has promised that the project will deliver improvements to public transport, cycling and walking routes.
The funding has been made available as part of the Government's Growth Deal - a £21.4million package put aside for the Greater Birmingham and Solihull area.

The Long Way Round: Councillors have long recognised that transport links between different parts of Solihull are in urgent need of improvement.
Five years ago, the transport and highways department was asked to look at ways that a more efficient network could help bolster the local economy.
Officers identified that the traditional difficulties with joblessness in wards such as Chelmsley Wood could be eased by better connecting the communities with the main employment centres, such as the NEC, airport and Solihull town centre.
Efforts to improve the situation got off to shaky start after an overhaul of bus services did little to improve the situation for those reliant on public transport.
Some members could barely conceal their frustration over the lack of progress.Castle Bromwich councillor Ted Richards (pictured above) said that routes remained "torturous" and were likely to deter people applying for jobs further afield.
The much-vaunted North Solihull Cycle Network, which was completed last year, saw the council adopt a different tactic. While the scheme attracted criticism after going considerably over budget, there have nonetheless been real efforts to encourage people to use the route to get to work.