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You are in: Black Country > Features > More features > Wolverhampton's yellow brick road?

Wolverhampton's yellow brick road?

A group of architects are proposing to build a real-life yellow brick road across Wolverhampton in a effort to boost the city's profile.

The proposed route of the yellow brick road

Proposed route of the yellow brick road

The construction is partly inspired by the road travelled by Dorothy in the 1939 film The Wizard Of Oz and would run from the side of Molineux all the way to the train station.

At just over a mile long and with a projected cost of £5 million, the route would feature yellow brickwork and have interactive pavement slabs that would light up when walked on.

Pantomime cast

A production of The Wizard of Oz

"We're trying to put Wolverhampton on the map," said Matt Spinks of Johnson Design Partnership, the firm behind the proposal.

"Birmingham's got the Bullring; London's got the London Eye. I think it's a good idea."

The centre piece will be a eight metre wide golden bridge across the ring-road that will run over the existing subway.

"We're trying to connect the south side of the city with the north side," explained Wolverhampton-born Matt. 

"The ring road is choking the city a bit. Obviously the subway is used at the moment but we're trying to open it up to get more people across the ring road, make it safer for students, pedestrians and (football) fans."

Johnson Design Partnership

Johnson Design Partnership

Matt's company came up with the idea of building a new pedestrian bridge in Wolverhampton five months ago and that proposal has snowballed into a grander plan of a entire yellow brick road.

"We think that this will do much to showcase Wolverhampton," he said. "We want to celebrate the city and its heritage. For example, Spitfires were made here so we'd like to try and incorporate them into the route."

At the moment, Matt and his team are awaiting the results of a feasibility study and are speaking to potential funders. They are hopeful that work could begin on the bridge by late 2010, with the yellow brick road construction starting earlier.

"It's got good support from the university, Wolves, the council. Local people seem to appreciate what we're trying to do. We'll just have to see what happens."

The map on this page shows the proposed route. What do you think of Wolverhampton's yellow brick road? Tell us below:

last updated: 23/10/2009 at 10:49
created: 22/10/2009

Have Your Say

The BBC reserves the right to edit comments submitted.

Rachel Hughes
ok it a good idea, has i borm in wolverhampton and would love to see when completed.

Jemma Hill
How silly! Can we not have summer row started instead!!

Irene Sharp
O! Please,£5million could help regenerate the area to help bring in new people, new companies, new wealth. Put in an under ground system (Trains!)or put on special buses taking supporters to and from the station in fact scrap the buses you have now and get brand new buses on all routes as the ones you have now stink of stagnate water and look as if they have just come out of a scrap yard after they been cut & shunted. Relay the roads as most you could make a fantastic Martina on. Put a cinema in the town centre as the nearest one is the other side of Wolverhampton. Come on pull your finger out when you have done all the above then you can put a yellow brick road in as Wolverhampton will then be able to hole it's head up high and say 'Now lets see them take the Michael'.

Ann
What on earth will they think of next, this is an utter waste of money and resources, don't ask the people of W-ton to pay for this we already pay too much c/tax and we could benefit alot from £5million. W-ton/West Mids is in more of a recession than the rest of the Country. About time you people looked a real life.

shirley swinnerton
have these people got more money than sense. what a waste. the country is in recession and someone comes up with a daft idea like this

lalita
Whats the point??? Cant they spend the £5million on something worth while!!!

Nigel Cook
Bring it on, after all"All Roads lead to Paradise"

Jon
Oh my god what a shoxking idea, we've only just got over all the road works around wolves now you want to chop all the roads up again?? How long will this yellow road stay yellow? The tarmac as it is can't be kepts clean how is a yellow road going to be?

jason hayward
lets create the rave road lol

Mike
Good idea in principle.Cannot see why it needs to be so long. Need to route people around the city not through it from the station. A bridge and a short YBY either side would be fantastic.

Rod Stair
Great idea. But... we should be commemorating the 'forgotten' Battle of Britain fighter the Boulton Paul Defiant, not Spitfires. The Defiant was designed and built in Wolverhampton, over 1000 were produced.

Peter Smith
Not everyone in Wolverhampton is into football. How about something a little more subtle like wolf footprints (maybe in brass)

Steve
As long as it doesn't attract a tornado to blow us back into the premiership.

Aaron Sheridan
About time we had something like this in Wolverhampton. It will be a draw for everyone and might finally give the people who enjoying knocking Wolverhampton something positive to talk about. It looks awesome and will be a mecca for students, footie fans and visitors alike.

carl wood
I think its a brilliant idea, why someone has not thought of this before i dont know. Matt ten out of ten mate

N.Evans
some Street names on your map would help identify the route

P
Hmmm now that sounds interesting! So will everyone be singing "We're off to see the Wanderers!" on match days?...

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