Star comment: It's time to bring A5 up to date
Motorists caught up among the big lorries on the A5 between Shrewsbury and Oswestry are waiting, waiting, waiting.
Whichever direction they are travelling in, if they are A5 regulars they know that a dual carriageway is coming up at Nesscliffe, and once they reach that they will be able to pass this chain of impenetrable moving metal safely, and continue on their journey smoothly – until, of course, they meet up with more lorries.
The impatient do not wait. For the frustrated, the temptation is there to do something reckless. This involves pulling out in the face of oncoming traffic, with a closing speed of 100mph, or more.
The record of accidents on the single carriageway sections of the A5, and the A49 for that matter, is pretty terrible. They are very busy roads which have the additional burden of holiday traffic at Easter and summer and by and large they have not kept up with the demands now being made upon them.
There are good stretches, but many stretches which are more suited to the traffic volumes and conditions of the 1960s or 1970s.
For years, there have been calls for more of the A5 to be dualled. Now, at last, there is hope of some movement in the right direction, in the wake of a meeting between North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson and the Minister of State for Transport, John Hayes.
There is to be a study to see what can be done to improve the A5 north of Shrewsbury. Another outcome is that there is going to be a look to see what can be done in the Pant and Llanymynech areas, which have been crying out for a bypass.
Of themselves, these studies will solve nothing, rather like doctors describing and diagnosing an ailment, but then not embarking on any treatment. However, if we stick with that analogy for a moment, identifying what is needed and what can be done that is effective paves the way for the next step – actually doing something.
Despite the backdrop of a severe squeeze on public spending, improving roads can offer value for money. If you want to measure everything by money, every fatal accident costs the public purse at least £1 million. The cost to the bereaved is of course incalculable.
Shropshire's busiest roads have been stuck in another age for too long.
Things have to move on.
