Queensway, Birmingham

By the 1990s, changes were made to the road as the council sought to improve pedestrian links,[5] and vehicular movements were increasingly shifted out to the Middleway.

Due to financial controls, construction of the first part of the ring road, Smallbrook Queensway, did not begin until 1957, and the first section opened in 1960.

To aid motorists transition from the darker 500 feet (150 m) tunnel to daylight the underpass walls had graduated shades of colour.

[11] Two months later a 40 miles per hour limit was agreed by the city council and Department of Environment for the A38 section from St Chads underpass and the Queensway tunnel through to Bristol Street.

[12] Following a number of fatal accidents in the St Chads tunnel, the northbound carriageway of which has a sharp right hand bend, its speed limit was reduced to 30 miles per hour in February 1976.

[13] In 1978 the West Midlands County Surveyor reported potential safety problems caused by the use of high alumina cement in construction of the St Chad's Circus underpass roof.

[20] Some motorists, however, bemoan the reduction of road capacity[citation needed] and point to the regular congestion on the remodelled sections.

There still remain limited pedestrian connections between the city core and the Jewellery Quarter due to the surface-level section of Great Charles Street, which is between both tunnels.

[26] Birmingham City Council have also suggested placing the entirety of the A38 Queensway in a tunnel, but such a plan would take years and be expensive to build.

[30] The Rotunda building is at the top end of Smallbrook Queensway, after which the St Martin's Queensway passes under the 21st century built Bullring shopping centre complex and meets Moor Street station, serving as a link between Birmingham's two largest rail stations and is used by 1.4 million pedestrians a year.