70 recorded casualties in just five years on road earmarked for 'safety improvements'
Plans to improve safety around a key route in Shrewsbury have been welcomed although there is always more that can be done.
Shropshire Council has only just been told that it has been awarded £650,000 to make changes around the area of the A5191 from the Heathgates roundabout near Morrisons all the way through town to the junction with the A458 at Wyle Cop.
The area has seen a huge toll of personal misery with 70 recorded casualties in just five years. Some 15 of them have been classified as serious and 10 involving pedestrians and 16 being cyclists.
Residents and the businesses there can tell you stories of ambulances being called, people hurt, traffic congestion and the straight road sections becoming race tracks.
The ink on the funding announcement has hardly had time to dry and there aren't yet any detailed designs or artists impressions.
But there is enough in the announcement to give some cheer to Harlescott councillor Elisabeth Roberts although she says more money is needed for the "main gripe" which is to fill in potholes.
She represents Mount Pleasant Road area, where a pedestrian crossing is set to be built on the northern arm section. She has called for it to be near the Grange Primary School.
"The children there can be taking their lives in their hands when they try to cross that road," she said. "Residents have to listen to engines revving and cars speeding in that section."
