Shrewsbury MP reveals dual carriageway plan for A49

Parts of the A49 could be turned into a dual carriageway if major investment is secured, Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski has said.

The Tory is attempting to start a co-ordinated campaign to win Government funding for road improvements and has requested a meeting with fellow county MPs Philip Dunne and Owen Paterson on the issue.

His call comes after chancellor George Osborne announced the Government would be investing more than £1 billion to tackle areas of congestion and improve the national road network, as well as committing £170 million of extra funding to allow more local transport projects to go ahead yesterday.

Mr Kawczynski said he hoped the county MPs would join together to campaign for improvements to be made to the A49 in order to make the route safer.

"The Chancellor has announced a massive increase in funding for road building projects, with extra money going into the Highways Agency," he said.

"I travel on the A49 every week and I find the road very unsuitable. We should join forces to campaign for a massive improvement of the road and making it safer."

In his letter to Mr Dunne and Mr Paterson, the Shrewsbury and Atcham MP said he believed the county now has the 'perfect opportunity' to get hold of the necessary investment. The call came the day after a man in his 50s died in a horror road crash on the road.

An incident in the early hours of Tuesday morning saw the man's car collide with a lorry on the A49 just north of

Preston Brockhurst, near Wem. Both the car and lorry were left in flames, with the driver of the lorry left uninjured by the crash. It took 25 firefighters about two hours to get the blaze under control.