New bus and cycle lanes aimed at cutting congestion on one of Bradford’s busiest roads will soon be up-and-running.

Councillors say the £47,000 project on Huddersfield Road and Woodside Road, from Odsal through to Wyke, will be operating within the next couple of weeks.

Bradford Council hopes the new lanes, and the resulting improvements in bus times, will lead to a reduction in the number of cars on the road and an increase in the amount of people using public transport.

Darren Badrock, Bradford Council's principal engineer, said: “The A641 is the main bus corridor running between Bradford and Huddersfield and West Yorkshire Metro is fully funding this scheme to try to improve bus times for passengers during rush hours.

“The bus lane will operate outbound from Bradford city centre between 4pm to 6.30pm and 24 hours inbound on Woodside Road due to a signalised bus gate giving priority to buses.”

Concerns about efficiency of the lanes were dismissed by Bradford Council, with unfavourable comparisons being drawn with a similar scheme that actually increased journey times for cars and buses on the A650/Tong Street corridor.

Mr Badrock said: “We consulted 780 households on this scheme and received only one objection.

“And the lane on Tong Street was a high occupancy vehicle lane, not a bus lane.”

Councillor David Robinson (Lab, Wyke) backed the bus lanes. He said: “It certainly is a good idea. There have been some bad accidents on that road.

“We are trying to improve it and trying to flow traffic down there better, not hinder it.”

Coun Robinson said the bus lane will undergo a 12-month trial period “to see how it works”.

He added: “It is advantageous. There is the new Appleton Academy up there, and a lot more traffic up there. We also had a lot of representations from the public to reduce the accident rate on there.

“We want to reduce the number of cars on the road and get those people onto public transport.”

Councillor David Warburton (Lab, Wyke) said: “It is part of a wider scheme to try to get people to use bus services.

“We have got to find different ways of getting people to use public transport.

“There will be odd times wherever you go where there will be congestion. But overall, I think it will work.”