SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

You all know the one, the one that runs from near the Armley Gyratory to just after the river along Whitehall rd.Well, I have heard, although nowt concrete that it "may" be brought back up to a safe and usable condition and used as a safe cycle / pedestrian entry into the city. (that from the mouth of a city planner)

I think it's been part of the new development for a while Simon. What a lot of people don't know is at the back of the viaduct out of sight, It splits into 2 and runs down an incline on the level, It's a perfect place to put access for the walkway. I think there building stairs at the end were it stops abruptly. Some of my viaduct pics are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn ... detail/And the planned development is here    http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthrea ... 851&page=6        

Aye, didn't know that it was already part of a plan. At the moment there is a proposal, by LCC, called the West Leeds Gateway. It aims to "upgrade" the already exisiting gateway into the city from the West. One of the main concerns is that there is not enough Green links from that quarter, hence the proposal to turn the old viaduct into the elevated walk way. They also hope to link walkways onto Kirkstall road from the Armley side. At the moment they only have Canal Rd and Wellington bridge, their looking at decent access points for pedestrians to cross the river in-between these two points.

It would be nice if they had a little imagination here I think Simon. There is a real old wooden semaphore signal still up there, The platform end of Holbeck high level station still exists. Pound to a penny they smash it all to bits. Can't they restore them as Leeds heritage and put some signs up with the history of the stations & viaduct? After all it brought the first railway in to Leeds in 1844 and helped shape the city we know today. Can they not keep the railway theme and use railway sleepers for flower beds. Build the path ways into old rail lines & add some retro signs of Leeds Central, Holbeck e.t.c. I bet they won't think of any of that lol. City planners if you reading please take note         

Leave it out Phil, I think your crediting them with a bit too much their mate. It'll be some horrible modern steel arch monstrosity, it anything at all. That old semaphore station your on about, is that the old hut that has some pretty precarious natural steps down to it, with wires crossing the river?

I wouldn't bet against you there mate. Lets see The semaphore signal is on this pichttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/276347 ... 234265061/

Oh that one. I don't know why, but I was thinking about summat on the river. Sorry, bout the confusion.You may have seen it, but it's about level with the old dairy and is a small wooden shack on the side of the river and has a load of wires spanning the river towards the dairy.

I've seen various proposals for the gyratory area, including getting rid of it altogether and creating a more conventional linear junction (imagine the traffic chaos during construction!). It takes up a lot of land and is a barrier between Armley and the centre.To get from the end of Armley Rd to the City Centre on foot involves dashing across the carriageway when the lights are red (there is no pedestrian crossing or footbridge on this side) then negotiating the old station subway and running the gauntlet of fork lift trucks as you walk through the back of the Polestar printing works to Whitehall Rd. Not the most pleasant walk. The canal is a nice enough route if you can get on to it, but access points are limited, and the surfacing is pretty appalling for bikes at the moment (the City Island development knackered a lot of it, and like many other developments in town they haven't made good their surroundings afterwards). The viaduct would be a good cycle/pedestrian route, though I'd sooner see it used as a tram or bus 'flyover' to speed public transport access into town, avoiding the congestion on Wellington St. A forward-thinking authority would have built this into the master plan for the new Whitehall development, squeezing some funding from the developer.

Actually JF, you can cross the dual carriageway at the bottom of Armley Rd by crossing the footbridge, that has now been replaced by a new one. OR, you could go down by the canal, under the bridge and up the other side, by the tyre & exhaust place. Or, you could walk on the same side as Armley rd down to TFI Fridays and cross under the flyover. Also, the present proposal of the new west Leeds Gateway is not to get rid of the gyratory at all as that would mean massive infrastucture change.However, it is all to do with new greener access points for pedestrians and cyclists around the gyratory.

simonm wrote: Oh that one. I don't know why, but I was thinking about summat on the river. Sorry, bout the confusion.You may have seen it, but it's about level with the old dairy and is a small wooden shack on the side of the river and has a load of wires spanning the river towards the dairy. I've seen that wooden hut and often wondered about it but never fancied negotiating the dodgy looking stairs.Might pluck up the courage this weekend and take a few pics.