Motorists and businesses hail £8.4 million Shrewsbury A5 road scheme
They caused delays and frustration for motorists for months – but now people are hailing the success of the completed £8.4 million roadworks on the outskirts of Shrewsbury.
Business owners and the town's MP say work on the Emstrey and Preston Boats islands has helped to reduce delays and improve traffic flow.
The Highways Agency has today welcomed the positive feedback for the project which was completed this month.
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, said: "There was a lot of criticism about the work while it was taking place. But I have received a lot of anecdotal evidence from people who say the flow of traffic is much better.
"Staff at Salop Leisure, which were affected by the works, say it is working much better and there is easier traffic flow.
"I will be coming back to Shrewsbury for the whole election campaign so I will be using it quite a bit. I think the investment is a good one."
Tony Bywater, chairman of Salop Leisure, near to the Emstrey island, previously told the Shropshire Star the works caused customers to avoid that area of Shrewsbury, which affected his business.
But today he said: "Customers are very happy with how safe it now is and that it is a great improvement. The work had received a lot of criticism but we are all delighted now that it has finished."
Debbie Makinde, Highways Agency project manager, said: "We welcome the positive feedback. These pinch-point schemes were carried out to improve flow, ease congestion and help boost the local economy. We are happy drivers are now seeing the benefits.
"We also carried out resurfacing work between the two junctions."
The project, which started last summer, was scheduled to finish in December but has faced several setbacks. Initial problems had been caused by poor weather and technical issues with the commissioning of traffic signal control components.
The project was named number eight in a list of Britain's top 10 worst congestion blackspots caused by roadworks, by traffic information provider Inrix.
Meanwhile, earlier this year a report showed that four per cent of A-roads and 10 per cent of B and C-roads in Shropshire require maintenance. The figures, which form part of the Government's road conditions in England report, also showed 19 per cent of Shropshire's unclassified roads require maintenance for the period 2013/14.
In comparison with figures for 2012/13, the figures for the maintenance of A, B and C-roads have improved by one per cent, while those for unclassified roads have stayed the same.
