£4 million safety measures planned for A529 near Market Drayton
New signage and barriers are among the measures being looked at to improve safety on the A529 in Shropshire which could benefit from nearly £4 million of funding.
Road widening could also be carried out on the road, which runs between Hinstock and Audlem, including Market Drayton, as part of the safety improvements.
Shropshire Council has confirmed it will bid for £3.8 million from the Government to make the A529 - which has been recognised as one of the 50 roads with the worst safety record in Britain - safer.
The council said the work would be phased over a two to three year period on a 12-mile stretch of the road.
Rob Gittins, Shropshire councillor for Cheswardine, said: "We are looking at making various improvements, including roadside barriers, curb delineation, improving junction signage and carriageway widening.
"Work certainly needs doing. The road has been highlighted by the Government and Shropshire Council as one of the worst in Britain for safety.
"The safety of road users and local residents is paramount and something the council takes very seriously."
Shropshire Council should find out in the spring if it has been successful with its bid for funding.
"We are looking at implementing the improvements as soon as possible.
"Local knowledge of residents and parishioners is vital as they know where the bad spots are. I have been consulting with local people and requesting their feedback," Councillor Gittins added.
Last year, a 23-year-old man died when the car he was a passenger in left the A529 and went down an embankment.
In 2015, a 80-year-old woman died following a two-vehicle crash on the A529 at the Sweet Appletree crossroads, near Hinstock.
Hinstock Parish Council described the stretch of road near the village as an "accident blackspot" and said it was hoping to put forward recommendations to Shropshire Council to make it safer.
Andy Wilde, Shropshire Council’s highways programme manager, said: “In 2017 the Department for Transport produced the 'Funding for Local Transport: The Safer Roads Document'.
"This formally identified the following two sections of the A529 in Shropshire within the top 50 roads in the country with the highest ‘risk’ of being killed or seriously injured.
"The bid, which will be in the region of £3.8million, is required to be submitted by September 30.
“If Shropshire Council is successful in its funding bid, the work is likely to be phased over a two to three year period, following a formal consultation process.”
