Shropshire Council to cover A529 overspend

It comes as it has bid for about £3.8 million from the Government to make improvements on the A529, which runs between Hinstock and Audlem.

It has also put forward suggestions to make the road safer including introducing roadside barriers, skid resistance, traffic calming and a cycle lane.

The road, which has been notorious for several serious accidents in recent years, has been recognised as one of the 50 roads with the worst safety record in Britain.

Latest figures have revealed five people have died and more than 100 were injured on the road in the last five years.

In its application form, the council states: “To ensure costs are effectively managed, the project manager will provide a monthly report to the project board summarising progress against programme.

“The report will include a schedule of compensation events generated to date and current estimated out-turn construction costs to allow any such issues to be identified and resolved at the earliest opportunity.

“Works will be programmed on an annual basis across the three years to provide a delivery schedule based upon detailed design.

“In line with Shropshire Council’s project governance arrangements, the council will be responsible for any cost overruns.”

The council said improvement work would be phased over a two to three year period on a 12-mile stretch of the road.

“Whilst there is an accident cluster at the Mount Pleasant crossroads, the majority of the accidents are dispersed along the whole route. This reinforces the approach of proactively addressing and reducing the known risks that could result in serious or fatal injuries along the route as a whole.

“To this end, a package different countermeasures recommended by the iRAP and VIDA assessments are proposed to be implemented enabling a step change in safety.”

to be experienced by all road users throughout the route. These countermeasures include delineation, signing, shoulder rumble strips, shoulder sealing, roadside barriers, skid resistance, clearing roadside hazards, central hatching, traffic calming and a cycle lane.”

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.

A council statement added: “Providing the funding to implement these measures along the A529 will lead to a reduction in the quantity and severity of road traffic collisions in the future, whilst enhancing the section of road for businesses, residents and visitors to the county.”