Shrewsbury drivers warn of new A5 traffic island chaos
The multi-million pound revamped Emstrey Island on the A5 at Shrewsbury has brought a wave of condemnation from motorists just days after the bollards were removed.
Drivers have called the new layout "crazy" and say they fear that the new road markings, which sees drivers in the outside lane having to merge into the middle lane, will cause traffic chaos.
But the Highways Agency today insisted it is a system used on road junctions across Britain and that it is perfectly safe.
The new road layout has led to widespread criticism on social media, with motorists swapping stories of queues and near misses.
Mark Fletcher from Guilsfield near Welshpool crosses the island twice daily as he commutes to RAF Cosford and says many of his colleagues on the air base also use the traffic island.
He said: "When it reopened earlier this week the markings on the roundabout seemed to be the main topic of conversation and seem to be an accident waiting to happen at every change of the lights.
"If you are in this lane, you have approximately 20 to 30 yards to get into the middle lane before your lane runs out and therefore traffic will either just cut up the traffic in the middle lane or back up onto the roundabout waiting to be able to get over into that lane.
"To have waited all this time for the new traffic island and end up with this ridiculous system is an absolute disgrace. Luckily for me I mainly use this road at commuter times therefore most road users around me will soon realise the error of the planners and avoid that lane.
"However, at other times of the day when occasional users are on the road it will be mayhem."
Joe Wilson from the Highways Agency said the scheme had been designed in accordance with current highway standards.
The design of the junction enables three lanes of traffic to travel east / west along the A5 through the junction. He said it has been designed in this way to ensure maximum capacity and efficiency of the junction to enable a reduction in congestion and improvement in safety by reducing the amount of lane changing taking place on the circulatory carriageway.
Mr Wilson added: "It is employed on other roundabouts.
"Independent safety checks have taken place at the end of design stage prior to constructing the scheme and have not found this layout to be a specific issue while further independent safety checks were carried out prior to the removal of the traffic management used to construct the scheme and prior to bringing the traffic signals and new road layout into operation.
"Three separate visits were undertaken prior to the switch on of the traffic signals to ensure all safety measures were in order."
A total of £3.8 million has been spent on the Emstrey Island roundabout, just three years after £500,000 was spent on a revamp that saw traffic lights installed.
During the work, that took much of 2014, construction workers realigned both A5 approaches to the island, as well as creating dedicated turning lanes and two dedicated lanes through the roundabout for traffic on the A5 in a bid to reduce congestion.
