Calls for revamp of Shropshire's A5 and A49
Major improvements are needed to two of the county's main roads in a bid to improve business.
The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership is calling on the Government to fund improvement projects for the A49 and A5 west and north of Shrewsbury.
A breakfast meeting will be held in Ludlow by the partnership tomorrow, asking drivers what investment they want to see in the roads network. The meeting has been called as part of a bid to see more national funding for transport links in the region.
Marches LEP says that to persuade the Government to invest in the area's infrastructure it need to build up a solid case.
It has already carried out a detailed study that found two of the main trouble spots were the A49 west of Shrewsbury and the A5 north of the town.
Jacqui Casely, LEP partnership manager, told roads minister John Hayes when he paid a visit to Shropshire last week that the Strategic Transport Corridors report flagged up the two roads as the most congested of routes connecting the Midlands and Wales.
The M54/A5 route, known as the North West Frontier Corridor, was, she said, a high priority because of its important strategic role as a freight route – the Trans European Transport network to Holyhead.
"For local journeys the Shrewsbury to Oswestry axis is becoming more important as both towns expand. The A5 northbound Oswestry bypass features in the top 10 least reliable journey times, 63.6 per cent on-time reliability and the route is therefore totally inadequate," she said.
Wednesday's business breakfast meeting will ask company bosses what investment in the transport network might benefit them.
Partnership chairman Graham Wynn said: "The aim of the strategy is to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of freight movements, reduce journey times and thereby improve business productivity across the Marches area while also looking for ways to reduce the wider impacts of freight movements."
