Lights ‘will ease roundabout jams’

One of Shropshire’s busiest roundabouts is in need of traffic lights to ease congestion after a survey revealed up to 35,000 vehicles a day are using it.The Highways Agency is trying to secure funding and, if successful, work could start at Emstrey Island this year.

If the proposals are given the go-ahead, £1 million could be spent installing traffic lights on four of the five exits on the A5 roundabout.

Figures show about 30,000 to 35,000 vehicles use the roundabout each day. Between January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2005, a total of 28 collisions were recorded at the junction.

Four collisions involved serious injury and 24 involved slight injury making it 16th out of 173 for accidents for Shropshire, The Marches and western parts of the West Midlands.

A Highways Agency spokesman said the main reason for the work was congestion at peak periods.

He said: “The scheme at Emstrey roundabout has been designed as a result of an initial study which was undertaken to determine the traffic flow and, particularly at peak times, when it was known there was congestion and delays.

“That study showed the island was up to capacity and, coupled with accident data and the traffic flow delay, it was decided that the most sensible solution was traffic lights.”

But the spokesman said transport proposals by Shrewsbury’s two colleges as part of their co-location plan would place an extra traffic burden on the section of road at peak times.

He added: “The number of accidents might be fairly low but when there is a lot of traffic using the junction and there is a tiny bump, the delays can be horrendous.”

By Rebecca Lawrence