Letter: Harlescott traffic improvements have their faults

Letter: I have sat back for a few weeks now to see how the flow of traffic through the new set up at Harlescott crossroads has been going.

Why did it take the death of a young person to have these lights put right in the first place? The original design, of two lanes merging into one within 50 yards of the lights towards town, was always a recipe for disaster.

Since the lights have been altered, generally, the traffic flow into town from Battlefield, the towards Battlefield and traffic from Featherbed Lane tends to run without too much of a hold up.

However, the flow coming down Harlescott Lane is a great big bottleneck due to the pedestrian refuge in the middle of the lane outside the banks. This is where the traffic used to split firstly into two lanes and then three lanes up to the lights.

Now you have single lane which backs up beyond the level crossing at times whilst traffic is trying to merge not only into three lanes but ha-ving to cope with vehicles trying to filter in from the slip road by the banks and trying to cross over the traffic flow when turning right out of Lidl supermarket.

The amount of people using the central reservation whilst crossing the road is virtually non existent. There are pedestrian crossings lights at the crossroad. Why do we need the refuge?

Terry Wilkinson

Shrewsbury