Time is about to be called on motorists who have turned a residential street into a busy rat-run, thanks to a £14,000 traffic-calming scheme.

And the move to slow down traffic and stop drivers using Thackley Old Road as a short-cut to avoid delays on the A657 Leeds Road at Windhill, Shipley, has been welcomed by Councillors and residents, who organised a petition demanding action.

Bradford Council's Shipley Constituency Area Panel agreed to implement the scheme after residents raised concerns about the rat-run through Windhill's neighbourhood forums.

The project has been included in the panel's minor works programme for 1998/99 and work is due to start over the next couple of weeks.

The scheme will see road humps installed on Thackley Old Road between Busy Lane and its narrow section to the west of Alma Street.

There will also be a mini-roundabout at Thackley Old Road's junction with Busy Lane and humps on Alma Street.

Councillor Phil Thornton (Lab, Shipley East) said the aim of the scheme was to get cars back on to Leeds Road by discouraging drivers from taking the short-cut, and to reduce the speed of any remaining traffic.

He said: "There have been concerns over many years about rat-running at high speed there and it came to head a couple of years ago when a petition was submitted to the area panel.''

Coun Thornton added that a move to link the traffic lights by the Carnegie Library in Leeds Road with the signalling system at Fox Corner was set to be implemented over the next couple of months and would also help improve traffic flow in the area.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.