A senior councillor has branded the A50 the worst major entrance into Leicester city centre.
Patrick Kitterick, chairman of the city council's planning committee, spoke about the need to improve the route when he and his colleagues approved a £25 million shops and flats complex off Vaughan Way.
Coun Kitterick said he hoped the scheme would set off a chain of regeneration in the former industrial area which has proved notoriously hard to attract investment.
He said: "If you ask anyone in the city or the county which is the worst entry way into the city, they will say it is the A50 going through Woodgate and going through Highcross Street.
"The problem is by the time you have taken the whole length, it is nearing a mile you need to regenerate."
Sowden Developments' scheme will provide 150 flats, a food store and a Decathlon sports shop with rooftop pitch on a vacant site in Vaughan Way across from the Highcross shopping centre. Coun Kitterick said: "The biggest challenge is getting investment to jump the ring road.
"I have described it like reverse dominoes. The hope is when one development goes up someone will be encouraged to put another up and then another.
"This can achieve that and is a prize worth going for."
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said he agreed with Coun Kitterick.
He said: "Patrick is absolutely right. It is the worst artery into the city.
"That area is a great challenge but it is one we are addressing."
The city council and the Leicester and Leicestershire Economic Partnership will see £28 million spent on improving the A50 and the A6.
There will also be £20 million for plans to regenerate the city's rundown riverside area around Frog Island.
It is hoped the Government cash will lead to further private sector investment like the Sowden scheme. Sir Peter said the project's approval was "absolutely brilliant" news.
Hammerson, the owner of Highcross, said it supported the Sowden development in principle but asked councillors not to approve it because they had concerns about a proposed footbridge from the new building to the existing John Lewis car park.
Hammersons also owns some of the land Sowden wants to be developed and no agreement has yet been reached between the two.
Planning officers said resolving the matter was a civil issue rather than a reason not to grant permission.
A number of councillors were unhappy Sowden would not be asked to provide affordable housing but were told it would make the scheme unviable.
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