Long-suffering commuters who encounter traffic jams and danger at a roundabout have been given an early Christmas present – a £3.3 million package of highway improvements.

Councillors are set to approve a plan to replace Saltaire roundabout with a junction as part of a scheme to improve road safety and ease congestion.

Calls for action intensified this week following the second death crash at the roundabout in four months.

The new layout will see the roundabout replaced by a junction managed by traffic lights at the intersection of Saltaire Road and the A650 Bingley Road and Gordon Terrace.

Other measures include 20mph zones in Nab Wood, Moorhead, Hirst Wood, Wycliffe and Saltaire village, traffic lights giving priority to buses, replacement pedestrian crossings and the extension of existing city-bound bus lanes on Bingley Road to the west of Saltaire.

Councillor Ghazanfer Khaliq, the Council’s executive member responsible for highways, said: “Saltaire roundabout is one of the most dangerous junctions in the district so it is very important we start safety improvements. This scheme has been designed in close co-operation with local people whose comments and suggestions have played a valuable role in refining the design.”

The plan has emerged from a consultation involving workshops with businesses, Saltaire Primary School, Saltaire Village Society, transport authority Metro, councillors and residents.

A total of 17 options were considered and analysed using traffic simulations, with the final design offering the best solution for improving safety and journey times, particularly for bus passengers.

Work on some elements of the scheme will begin in the new year, with the major improvements likely to begin in the summer. It is hoped the project will be completed by Autumn, 2012.

Bradford Council’s executive is due to discuss and make decisions on the scheme – which uses funding from the Regional Transport Board and Department for Transport – on Friday, January 14.

On Tuesday, an 89-year-old man, who has not yet been named, was airlifted to hospital after his car flipped onto its roof following a collision with another car at the blackspot.

Despite paramedics’ efforts to save the man, who is from Bingley, he died as the Yorkshire Air Ambulance reached the hospital.

The latest accident followed another fatal crash in September in which a motorcyclist, 58, was in collision with a car. He died two weeks later.

Councillor Kevin Warnes said a traffic light junction would improve safety and needed to be carried out “as quickly as possible”.

He said: “There have been dozens of bumps and shunts and there has also been the case of the elderly lady who lost her leg on the crossing in Saltaire Road within the past few years.

“Now there have been these two fatal accidents. It just underlines the need to sort out the junction. These two latest fatalities should focus people’s minds.”