£9m Shropshire road shake-up revealed
Transport bosses are to spend £9 million on four major road improvement projects in Shropshire, it was announced today.
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There will be major changes along the A5 to the Emstrey Island roundabout, Churncote Island and the Edgebold roundabout near Shrewsbury, as well as on removing the A49 Preston Boat roundabout and replacing it with a signal controlled-junction.
It is hoped the changes will help Shrewsbury’s plans to create more than 2,000 jobs and 1,800 homes in the area by 2020.
The Highways Agency schemes, announced by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, will begin next year and are scheduled to be finished by the end of 2014.
A total of £3.8 million will be spent on the Emstrey Island roundabout in 2014, with the investment announced just three years after £500,000 was spent on a revamp that saw traffic lights installed.
Bosses will realign 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.
Meanwhile, work is to start next year on the A49 job, with £3.3 million being spent on replacing the existing Preston Boat roundabout with a traffic lights junction.
And a further £1.5 million will go on widening the A458 westbound and A5 northbound approach roads to the A5 Churncote Island roundabout, as well as improving signage and road markings.
The final scheme will see £400,000 spent on widening the approaches to the Edgebold roundabout on the A5 and revising the signage and road markings.
Mr McLoughlin said: “These million road improvements prove the Government’s determination to accelerate growth and cut congestion. By removing bottlenecks, these road schemes will help get people to and from work and power the economy.
Comments for: "£9m Shropshire road shake-up revealed"
James
Improving existing roads? Could the North West Relief road (or part of it) be built with this money instead?
Jon Percival
Why alter Emstrey Island, when changes were only recently carried out, and will the A488 approaches be altered as well as the A5 at Edgebold
The Original Jake
I'm delighted to read that traffic lights are to be installed on yet another major roundabout. Road 'improvements' in Shropshire just don't feel the same without them.
Gary
Let's also hope we get the full value of the new lights by having them on all the time and not just at peak times (someone mentioned on the radio this morning that the average motorist will spend a full two weeks of their lives waiting at red lights).
The Original Jake
Waiting at lights at midnight on an empty junction is a superb way to pass the time.
Darren
I think it's now time to crack on with the North West Relief Road if all this is going to happen. If you think traffic is bad now in and around town, just wait until this lot appears...
Jon
Nothing like traffic stopping at lights to improve traffic flow...
Mat
Why remove something that wokrs? The Preston Boats roundabout is that problematic is it? Perhaps make it have a dedicated filter lane for west bound traffic heading towards Emstrey is all that is needed - Traffic lights slow down traffic flow, which in turn increases fuel consumption (perhaps that is how they will power the ecomemy!). Emstrey roundabout is a problem and re-alignment of the lanes would be welcome.
Perhaps money would be better spent on at least widening the a49 between Sundorne and the A53/Two Henrys roundabout and the A5124 to the Ellesmere road in preparation for the NWRR that might happen one day.
North west relief road waiter
When will the north west relief road be built then????
My opinion
What about the North West Relief Road? It takes far too long to get to that part of Shrewsbury, and clogs up the town centre because its the quicker alternative at this time. PLEASE don't mark any more lanes on roundabouts, sit by the roadside at the Gledrid Island on the A5 and watch what confusion it causes.
Freddie
The A5 Shrewsbury bypass has been a 'bargain bucket' scheme from the start. A major road like this should have split-level junctions like a motorway - none of this pussy-footing around with roundabouts. The road should've been dualled all the way up to Wrexham - it certainly carries enough volume of traffic to warrant it. But no - penny-pinching prevailed from the start, with expensive 'improvements' like Dobbies Island, Emstrey Island and the Nesscliffe bypass requiring more funds than would've been needed had the planners not taken such a short-term view. True, dual carriageway roads and split-level junctions require a larger initial outlay - but they definitely pay for themselves over time through improvements to the local economy. Look at the A55 in North Wales for a good example of forward-thinking.
Carter
Traffic lights at the A5/A49 Preston roundabout! I'd love to see how they managed to work out this is required, and what economic benefit this will acheive!
Incredible - I drive there twice a day during rush hour and there's never any real queues to talk of there.
In fact just how it used to be at the Emstrey roundabout before the lights - i.e. no queues without lights, then they install them and there is ALWAYS queues now!
Total waste of money...
RM
Very true! I do the journey twice a day in rush hour and have to agree with you.
I also think, in the meantime, if they just re-marked the lines on Emstrey roundabout that would also help to avoid confusion - especially coming from the west.
Alison
Please just get on with building the North West Relief Road. It is an absolute must for the town.
john
No it isn't a must.
yes it is
H. St. John Peasbody
The proposed traffic lights on the A5/A49 junction will severely impact on the dozens of ambulances which will be ferrying the sick children of west Shropshire and Wales to the new children's ward at the Princess Royal Hospital at Telford.
Paul Shrews
Why do we think that this is just good money after bad...... Any island and traffic light system is flawed; one or the other! Emstrey & Dobbies just creates problems & confusion. We can't even get a "ring-road" right, Finish It Off! Please.
Michael Ryan
Whose bright idea was it to have roundabouts?
bill
what about some improvements to our rail infrastructure - the line speed from Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton is still a mere 70 mph!
The Original Jake
If lights are installed on the A5/A49 island then savvy commuters will find ways to bypass the inevitable queues, creating dangerous rat runs on the surrounding minor roads.
stu
Freddie is spot on. The present A5 should have been a continuation of the M54 all the way up to Wrexham.
This would have not only have saved money in the long run, but also saved many lives which have been lost on the antiquated A5 west of Shrewsbury which has patently been unable to cope with traffic volumes for the past 25 years.
The Original Jake
I've heard that's what was supposed to happen, but political interests meant the Felixstowe to Holyhead route ended up as the A55 running through Deeside instead.
Of course, lorry drivers aren't easily fooled and they know it's still quicker (and more fuel efficient) to use the M54/A5/A483 route despite the congestion.
Robert McBride
Oh here we go again...20th century thinkers talking about the North west releif road. Get a grip. I live in Ellesmere and DO NOT want this £200M waste of money just to save 10 mins going around Salop. It will be a massive blight on your special landscape around this side of Shrewsbury. A high level road on concrete stilts acroos the river Severn. For what?
Roger
More traffic lights. Will they ever learn?
Money down the drain to cause delays and no pedestrian or cyclist excuses this time.
If they have money to throw away why not spend it on the North West Link Road and get some bang for their buck. That would slove the problems of all their juctions and the town centre congestion. Not completely but some help to all. What they are prosing is more delays for all.
Mr E
Traffic lights at Preston Boat? What a joke will they never learn? Look at Emstrey and Dobbies creates so many problems and near misses / accidents
BIGCAT178
When I first heard this I thought somebody was having a laugh! If we take Preston Island why bother to change!! It works OK it might get a bit busy at peak times. So imagine you leave the M25 up the M1/M6/M54 and are heading toward Shrewsbury down the A5 you then hit this new traffic light complex at Preston. The first traffic lights since leaving London! As for Emstery I gave up with that one a couple of years ago. Thank God I don't work in Shrewsbury anymore I will enjoy (on my odd trip) watching the fun as I gaze down from the train on my way into town over the railbridge spanning the A49. On Shrewsburys new direct rail link to the capital! Don't know which is the worse prospect. And can somebody explain how these changes will create new jobs?
peter
Every single roundabout that has been converted into traffic lights has been a total insult to every driver on the roads. It's unfathomable that there’s someone this thick in our council. What makes it worst is that there’s nothing wrong with the roundabouts that they ruin.
Iron Flag
Stop your whining and exercise some paitience, bratish motorists would wish to rip up more of our greenbelt just so they can get home in time for xfactor. No more road building and house building ONLY on brownfield sites.
RICK
Why put traffic lights on a roundabout anyway?i have been to emstry roundabout on the way to shrewsbury got to the roundabout, the road is clear but i cant go round it as the lights are on red when i'm there so have to wait for them t ochange before i can proceed,i live in telford and they put traffic lights on the bennets bank roundabout -- why? if things work ok then why change it.
TELFORDITE
HOW ABO UT A BIT OF PAINT MARKING THE LANES AT THE TELFORD TOWN CENTRE/ RAILWAY / 4442 JUCTION OVERDUE VERY DANGEROUS
grumpo
So our wonderful MP is pleased with the proposed alterations and has fought hard to get them.Pity he could not have fought hard for the North West Relief road but then again that would have upset the CPRE, Friends of the Earth, Saviors of the lesser spotted three legged penguin, etc and not forgetting voters who live on The Mount.
Surely it is obvious that any road schemes within the Centre or around the outskirts are only short term measures and until the circle of an outer ring road is completed around the town the problems of through traffic cannot be resolved.
The traffic approaching from any direction towards the urban area would have an option and as a result the traffic on all existing islands would be reduced accordingly and the through traffic using Smithfield Road would be reduced
At that time options for further pedestrianisation of the town centre can be seriously considered as part of an overall masterplan rather than costly knee jerk reactions to individual problems.
C. Rikey
£9 million just to shunt the delays further up the A5. As Freddie says the original scheme was compromised by using islands instead of grade-separated interchanges and not building dual carriageway right through to the A483 dual near Wrexham. Presently the system works, particularly at peak holiday traffic flows, slowing the traffic flow into Wales via the A5 and A458, by parking large volumes of traffic along the bypass in the process.These proposals will improve this,but the heavy traffic is now more likely to be parked at Nesscliffe, Oswestry, Chirk, Llangollen ,Corwen and Welshpool as a result. Imagine the scene if the lights failed at the new Preston Boat junction ?
Mike
So chance of flyovers for through traffice, just new traffic lights, new roundabouts and some durable white paint.
Same old...
Pete
North West relief road is a must, it would open up a massive area for new housing developments that the town vitally needs.
Catherine
Disappointing! I thought finally someone is doing something about Edgebold roundabout. Widening the road up to the roundabout and new signs won't stop the A5 idiots who speed over without stopping and cause untold accidents. Slowing them down is the only way or a flyover.