Bradford Council is proposing a new high-occupancy vehicle and bus lane on one of the city’s busiest commuter routes.

Early consultations with residents and businesses along Wakefield Road and Westgate Hill have started.

The proposals include a quarter-of-a-mile section that goes under the bridge at Dudley Hill roundabout in the direction of the city centre, and another section, about 600 metres long, on the opposite carriageway from Thorndene Way extending up to Tong School.

It is planned that the sections would come into force between 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm when only buses and vehicles carrying two or more people will be allowed to use them in a bid to improve traffic flow.

A special meeting of Tong Street Neighbourhood Forum has been arranged to get people’s feedback next Thursday evening at the Gateway Centre in Vulcan Street where the proposals will be unveiled.

Officers in the Council’s Transportation & Highways Services department as well as transport consultants Arup and Metro will be there.

People will have the chance to view the proposals and ask questions from 6.30pm ahead of the meeting which starts at 7pm.

Tong ward councillor Michael Johnson said: “We want to hear their views. My view is that although what we’ve seen of the proposals so far show there should be some improvement to flow on the road, the plan stops where the bottleneck starts at Knowles Lane to Tong Cemetery.

“I would urge the Council to bring forward improvement plans for Tong Street although we have to be thankful for every step on the road to improvement.”

Chris Bedford, Bradford Council’s principal engineer, said the road layout “would encourage people to use buses, share cars and aid traffic flow in one of the busiest roads leading in and out of the city centre”.

The scheme would be part of the West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan and be funded by the Government and implementation is planned for next year. It will be considered at the Bradford South Area Committee in January.