Mile End progress praised by transport chief
Progress on improving the county’s most notorious roundabout has been welcomed by a senior councillor, who says the project will add to the argument for dualling the A5.
Work is under way on a fresh roundabout which will sit alongside Oswestry’s Mile End Roundabout to the north, with hope that the project finally solves the continuing frustrations with the existing junction.
The plan will create a second four-exit roundabout which will take traffic from the A5, bypassing the existing Mile End Roundabout.
Motorist driving from Shrewsbury to North Wales – or vice versa – will be separated off to use the new roundabout to continue their journey.
By taking some of the Welshpool or Oswestry bound traffic out of the equation, it is hoped the project will significantly reduce congestion and speed up journey times.
The new roundabout is also providing access to the planned Oswestry Innovation Park, which will create around 500 jobs.
Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s portfolio holder for economic growth and regeneration, said he was delighted to see work on the project progressing.
He said: “It is great to see the road improvements taking shape and to see things moving on the ground.
“There is still a lot of work to do, it is a huge project but the contractors are battling away and hopefully they get some good weather to help them.
“It will open up the innovation park, which will create 500 jobs for the area, with new businesses, or those that are growing, which will mean new skills and that is great for the county economy and Oswestry.
"At the moment, with Covid, traffic levels are lower than we would expect but we know it will come back and unless we do this work Mile End will be as clogged as it always is.”
Councillor Charmley said work was also being “future-proofed” so it could be combined with any move to turn the A5 into a dual carriageway road. It is a long running campaign but we need to do that in the long term.”
