Concern as work set to start on A41
Thursday 1st October 2009, 12:55PM BST.
Fed-up motorists will have to add about 30 miles to their journey every day for a month when a Shropshire trunk road closes for resurfacing work, it emerged today.
Plans to shut a two-mile stretch of the A41 both ways at Sambrook, near Newport, have been branded “a problem” by critics.
Businesses already combating the recession say they will be counting the cost of the closure, while residents living along the diversion routes say they fear extra heavy traffic will blight their lives.
Telford & Wrekin Council is to close the road from Monday for four weeks.
Northbound traffic is to be diverted along the A519 from Newport to Eccleshall, Staffordshire, then on to the A51 to Blackbrook and finally back on to the A53.
Diverted traffic between Newport and Tern Hill will have to travel some 30 miles to get past the closure.
Southbound traffic will be diverted from Tern Hill to Hodnet on the A53, then on the A442 to Telford and finally the A518 to Newport – a journey of about 22 miles.
Impact
Along the A41, the journey between Tern Hill and Newport is normally about 10 miles.
Chris Humphreys, transport manager at Grocontinental chilled distribution in Whitchurch, said the closure would impact the business which handles up to 200 vehicle movements daily.
He said: “We don’t want our 44 tonne vehicles trundling up and down country lanes so we will be using the A49 for our fleet where possible.
“There will be cost implications and the biggest problem could be for foreign drivers or those from elsewhere who collect and deliver from our site.”
Peter Jones, a member of Eccleshall Parish Council, said: “It will be a problem in the town and jam everything up. Our roads were only designed for light traffic not big lorries.”
A Telford & Wrekin Council spokesman said: “As part of our ongoing annual programme of road improvements, a contract worth around £313,000 has recently been let to Tarmac Ltd to resurface a section of the A41 within the borough.
“On Monday, carriageway resurfacing work will start in between Chetwynd Firs and just north of Stanford Bridge, near Sambrook.
“The road will be closed to through traffic for four weeks and a diversion route will be signed.”
By Tom Johannsen
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Closure branded a ‘problem’ by some, but it seen as a ‘God Send’ by many of the residents who live by the side of the A41. Unfortunately due to a council U-turn we will have to now wait even longer for the closure. Those against the closure and the diverted traffic should try putting up with A41 vehicles every day and night, – Yet another case of Not In Our Back Yard.
The A41 is one of, if not the busiest and most dangerous roads in Shropshire. The people who live along the A41 can’t leave their homes without fear of being blown over by speeding Lorries and near crashes when trying to turn in or out or their homes, constant damage being caused by the high speed traffic and accidents to their property, hedges, fencing etc. Houses shaking due to the over-loaded lorries a couple of feet away from the bedrooms and living rooms, as well as living in fear that a lorry or car will come crashing through the house wall. Not to mention the noise from the noisy illegal bikes especially on a Thursday night when it is like the TT Races, and at the weekend when the sun is out.
The residents along the A41 don’t get the benefit of a 40 or 30 mph limit – even though the council is spending £1000s on limits elsewhere where it is physically impossible to speed. The council is happy to let deaths continue to happen on the A41. Just look how many have happened in the last couple of years.
Many residents were really looking forward to the month of peace, quiet and a safer road. It is about time others got a taste of what we have to put up with. Now because of the noisy lorry companies and the racing car drivers complaining we won’t get our break from the conditions on the A41.
Many lorry drivers throughout the day and night blatantly break the law for speeding (40 mph for HGVs). Plenty of foreign lorries race to the ferries using the A41 as a short cut instead of using the motorways. Others Lorry drivers drive over their speed limit to try not to hold up the cars wanting to drive at 60mph or more.
We are grateful for those responsible drivers that do drive under the speed limit, especially the tractors. Please consider the residents next time you are driving along the A41 at 60mph (which is legal to do so) sat in their home, in their gardens or in bed.
However 60mph is not suitable in many areas on the A41, past the many homes, junctions, pubs, and businesses 60mph is way too much. 60 may be OK on the Newport and Hinstock bypasses but in between a reduction in speed limits is long overdue.
The real problem is that the council(s) have never done anything positive to improve the full length of the A41. A proper road should be built that would please businesses and keep lorries away from ALL residents, and it would be a great benefit to Shropshire. But instead the council would rather do nothing to help anyone, and spend money on lot of things not wanted by most people.
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