A5 and A483 will 'seize up' without changes - MP
A main route between Shropshire and Mid Wales will soon “seize up” soon if nothing is done about the increasing traffic issues, one of the region’s MPs has said.
Over the summer major tailbacks and traffic problems on the A5 into Oswestry, and onto the A483 into Pant and Llanymynech, have led to campaigners renewing calls for a new bypass.
Work has been ongoing between Midlands Connect, Shropshire Council, the Welsh Government and other organisations, exploring the statistics behind a new for a bypass and for improvement works to the A5 near Oswestry.
That work is still ongoing, and North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, who has been campaigning for an A483 bypass for many years, has warned that the whole route will "seize up" if nothing is done.
He said: “At 10am yesterday the A5 was at a complete standstill, and if something doesn’t happen with that stretch and the start of the A483, things will seize up all together.
“It will hit business and the economy in North Wales and the Midlands, because nothing will be able to move.
“There is strategic work going on behind the scenes, to gather the data and come up with a plan to show that works are justified, which they are.
“Progress is being made and hopefully will be continued to be made or the road network will just become solid.”
Back in the early 2000s the chance of a bypass being built in Llanymynech to alleviate traffic problems was closer than ever.
Campaigners were even at the stage of looking at compulsory purchase orders before the plans were put on hold.
Mr Paterson has said that now the Welsh Government are on board, things are looking better than they have in years.
And he said with work having taken place in Four Crosses, Welshpool and Newtown to improve the road network, the Llanymynech work needs to be the next big job.
He added: “They have carried out work on major projects further down the A483.
“But if work doesn’t take place at the top of the A483 then it will just grind to a halt.”
