This week, Commercial District improvement works continue (and a one way system will be introduced on the 16th August), Clarence Street works are nearly finished, tunnel closures, Merseyrail suspension, and of course it's Liverpool Pride this weekend.

City Centre Events

LGBT Pride Event: This event is on Saturday, 7th August and includes a parade which sets off from Lime Street at around 11.30am. The following roads will be closed while the parade passes through and then reopened to traffic: Lime Street from St John’s Lane to London Road; St John’s Lane; Queens Square; Whitechapel; Lord Street; Castle Street; and Dale Street.

Dale Street will closed to all traffic from the early hours of Saturday and all day for the main Pride event from Sir Thomas Street to Castle Street with all side roads within that section and the Churchill Way Flyover also closed.

Commercial District

On Dale Street work is continuing between Vernon Street and Cheapside with the temporary road closure of Cheapside and Hockenhall Alley to allow the construction of new raised sections of footpath across the side roads along Dale Street. During this closure, access into Cheapside and Cunliffe Street will still be via Tithebarn Street but egress will be unavailable onto Dale Street making the streets temporarily two way.

Hockenhall Alley is now reopened and it is envisaged that Cheapside will be reopened Friday 6th August ahead of the Liverpool LGBT Pride Festival. This is of course weather dependent and Traffic Management will still be maintained on site during the Festival. Businesses and residents have been advised via consultation leaflets.

The work area will then move in sections towards Hatton Garden before moving back along the opposite side of the road outside the Municipal Buildings. The slip road from Hatton Garden onto Dale Street will be temporarily closed from Sunday, 1st August to allow the safe construction of the kerbs and footpaths. This closure will be carefully monitored and consultation will be begin to possibly make it permanent. 

Works on the southern footpath at the Town Hall end of the street, between Castle Street and North John Street, have been reprogrammed to start after the completion of the Liverpool LGBT Pride Festival on 7th August to enable reconstruction works to proceed ahead of schedule. This will have a minimal impact on traffic as the carriageway is wide enough and will also help to speed completion of the works.

The traffic island at the junction with Old Leeds Street and Rigby Street has been successfully removed. This will now make through traffic flows easier and safer and also make the forthcoming one way restriction northbound between Brook Street and Union Street easier to implement and understand. This one way system will be introduced on 16th August until the end of the works early in 2011.

Knowledge Quarter/Mount Pleasant

Advance Traffic signal works to the junction at Clarence/Rodney/Mount Pleasant are complete ahead of schedule. New carriageway surfacing and road markings, including advanced stop lines for cyclists will be completed at a later date after kerbing and pedestrian tactile facilities have been installed.

Queensway Tunnel

Queensway Tunnel will also be closed in both directions between 10pm and 6.30am from Monday, 23rd August to Thursday, 26th August, for essential maintenance work. It will also be closed from 10pm on Saturday, 28th August to 6.30am on Tuesday, 31st August for the Mathew Street Festival.

Merseyrail Northern Line (southern branch)

It may be useful to note that there is a rail replacement bus service in operation on the Northern Line between Hunts Cross and Liverpool Central from Saturday, 24th July to Friday, 27th August, 2010. For more details, please visit the Merseytravel website at www.merseytravel.gov.uk