Lara Croft Way opens Tuesday 11th May, part of Derby inner ring road.

Lara Croft Way opens to traffic on Tuesday 11th May 2010, This new section of Derby Inner Ring Road was named Lara Croft Way after an online poll by Derby City Council. The decision was revealed by Derby City Council on Friday, February 26, 2010.

This section of the inner ring road is 942 foot (287meters) in length. and connects the top of Babington Lane, Green Lane, Normanton Road and Burton Road (via a new roundabout) and then travels though the former streets of Sacheveral Street and Wilmot Street and connects at an exisiting roundabout at Osmaston Road, Leopold Street, Bradshaw Way. Once Mercian Way opens later in the year it will connect with the Lara Croft Way roundabout at the top of Babington Lane.

Lara Croft Way is only open in one direction at the moment so its currently not possible to drive from the Osmaston Road roundabout to the Babington Lane Roundabout. The outbound section of Lara Croft Way  is due to open in two months. Charnwood Street will then become a cul-de-sac.

I was one of the first few to drive along Lara Croft Way on Tuesday morning at 7:10am, It felt strange being able to cut out the bit down Normanton Road and Leopold Street, It was about 3 minutes quicker than going the old route. At busy times it would probably save even more time than that. All we need now is for Mercian Way to open and that will help make it quicker still.

Here is a map showing the exact route of Lara Croft Way in Derby :

View Derby inner ring road - Lara Croft Way and Mercian Way. in a larger map

Mercian Way will be the next section to open up, looking at how its going I would imagine that the section from the top of Babington Lane down to Abbey Street will be the next to open to traffic.