Shropshire Star

Dual carriageway call after A5 crash at Oswestry

A stretch of the A5 in Shropshire should be made a dual carriageway to avoid a repeat of huge tailbacks following a three-lorry crash, says a councillor.

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Councillor Peter Cherrington, the mayor of Oswestry, said action had to be taken to reduce congestion on the road between Nesscliffe and the north of Oswestry in the event of accidents.

He made the comments after a crash on Friday night caused eight miles of tailbacks.

There have been several accidents on the road in recent years, and the section close to the Halton roundabout has been closed several times this year alone because of serious crashes.

Councillor Cherrington, who also represents Oswestry East on Shropshire Council, said if the road was dualled then there would be the possibility of running a contraflow system to keep the traffic moving in such cases.

"I would wholeheartedly support that it would be beneficial to dual the road because then at least we'd be able to get people going contraflow as long as people didn't rubberneck," he said.

"In some cases, for instance if there was a death, you would still have to close the carriageway so that the evidence wasn't disturbed, but you'd have the option of a contraflow with a duel carriageway and you wouldn't have such long tailbacks."

Councillor Cherrington said it was ridiculous that he could travel along dual carriageway trunk roads everywhere in the UK except for the 15-mile stretch between Nesscliffe and just north of the Halton roundabout at Chirk.

He said: "My own view is that I can go from Land's End to John O'Groats on motorways and dual carriageways except between Nesscliffe and Halton.

"This is the original A5 haulage route and the main thoroughfare and part of the trans-Europe highway, so why has it not been done?

"I do feel that it should have been done 20 years ago when they did the Nesscliffe bypass, but it's now going to cost much much more to do it because they've delayed."

Councillor Cherrington said he felt drivers should take some responsibility for causing queues in some cases.

"We've all been in the traffic queues, and the motorist has to drive sensibly, of course," he said.

"One thing that annoys me is ghosting, where some idiot starts going slowly then the one behind them slows, and by the time you've gone three quarters of a mile back there's a tailback and you're stationary.

"Then when you reach the spot it starts, there's nothing there.

"And even with a dual carriageway, if there's a crash you always get rubberneckers slowing things down."

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