Mile End roundabout 'one of UK's safest' - but will be revamped again

The island, which was rebuilt at a cost of £4 million in 2014, will need to be remodelled because of plans for a new innovation park and scores of new homes.

The changes to the junction in Oswestry will be part of £9.3 million of work to the A5 which was announced earlier this year.

The confirmation comes as new figures reveal the existing Mile End roundabout is one of the safest of its kind in the country, with half the accidents of the national average for a junction of that size.

The statistics, released on behalf of the Highways Agency, show there were only four collisions causing injury on the Mile End Roundabout in the five years up to September 2017.

This is despite the roundabout being the source of controversy. Road markings were redrawn earlier this year after drivers complained about the roundabout's confusing layout following the £4m revamp.

Shropshire Council has said the need for a redesign so soon after the previous work is because it was only designed to deal with existing traffic, and not that expected in the future.

In a statement released earlier this year the authority said: “Previous improvements to the junction addressed only existing traffic issues, and there has been a significant increase in traffic unrelated to proposed developments.”

Housing and business park

County councillor Steve Davenport said that despite the low number of accidents the work has been vital to deal with the increasing number of cars using the roundabout.

He said that the plans to replace it again are driven by the number of houses being built in the area and the plans for a new business park directly off the island.

Councillor Davenport said further improvements are vital to ensure the growth of Shropshire’s economy.

“Traffic is growing and with 150 houses it will grow a bit more, also with a piece of land opposite with the innovation park that will grow there so something has to be done with the roundabout to allow for homes and to allow the business on the park to flourish,” he said.

The work would have to be designed and approved by Highways England.

Robert Jaffier, the organisation’s asset and resource manager, confirmed they were working with the council on the plan.

The work is part of the £9,321,963 awarded to Shropshire Council and the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership for a scheme named ‘Western Shropshire interchange improvements – unlocking the Marches Gateway for housing and employment growth’.

Safe?

Councillor Joyce Barrow, the member for St Oswalds who previously campaigned for safety improvements on the nearby A483 Maesbury Road junction, said she was pleased the accident rate was low, but that safety has to remain a priority.

She added: “It is good that the figures are low but one accident is one too many.”

The report’s figures on the roundabout equate to 0.8 accidents per year. The UK average for five-armed single carriageway roundabouts is 1.72.

The report by The Road Safety Initiatives on behalf of Highways England and the Mosaic Group was requested as part of the planning application to build 150 homes off Middleton Road.

It said that the recorded incidents were “slight in severity” and all attributed to “driver error”.

The report says two of the accidents involved goods vehicles – one which travelled straight over the roundabout and into the path of another car, while the other involved a livestock lorry which overturned.

One collision saw a car enter the roundabout from the Wrexham direction, colliding and knocking a rider off a moped.

Another took place on the approach to the roundabout along the A5 when a car collided with the rear of the car in front.

Concerns were raised by motorists over the safety of the roundabout following the £4m makeover by Highways England in 2014.

Further improvements, including repainting the lines because drivers said they were confusing, were recently made.

The audit was commissioned by Highways England in relation to plans to build 150 homes off Middleton Road and how it will impact the roundabout.

It aims to review the widening of the entry lanes of the A483 northbound (coming from Welshpool) and has identified a number of potential problems including inconsistent lane widths and whether it would be unclear for some road users to know which lane to select.