Star comment: Irresistible logic on A5 upgrade

In its favour are irresistible logic, the tide of history, and a demonstrable need.

The A5 running north of Shrewsbury to Oswestry and beyond is not fit for purpose in the 21st century. It is a mish-mash of modern, improved stretches, and pinch points. It is a strategic route taking heavy traffic into North Wales, including thundering lorries and, in the summer, an endless stream of holiday traffic, which has not benefited from an overall strategic vision.

Bits have been made better and bits have not. That approach has no doubt saved money in the short term but now it is crying out for a comprehensive tie-the-ends-together scheme which transforms it from a work-in-progress transport artery to one which is of the standard which its importance demands.

Our Shropshire Star campaign is calling for the A5 north of Shrewsbury to be upgraded to dual carriageway status for its entire length to Chirk. You will find a petition on our pages which we are inviting people to sign.

With the continuing increase of traffic on Britain’s roads an upgrade of the A5 is inevitable at some point anyway.

Click here to sign our petition to dual the A5

The advantages of improving the road speak for themselves. So we have to play devil’s advocate for a moment and put forward the advantages of not upgrading the road.

At first sight doing nothing, or nothing much, would save money.

But that is a false argument, because what really costs public money is a failure of strategic planning, as evidenced by the current proposals for an expensive northbound link for the M54 with the M6 which could have been done at a fraction of the cost if a proper link had been constructed at the time the M54 was built.

The longer bringing the A5 up to scratch is put off, the more it is going to cost. when the need becomes so pressing that it can no longer be delayed

These are construction costs, but they are not the only costs to be weighed up. With its incoherent mix of faster and slower stretches, and dualled and single carriageway stretches, the A5 is a potentially dangerous road and it has seen many tragic accidents over the years.

Cold-blooded as it may seem to add a financial cost to the human cost, fatal accidents are financially expensive, typically costing over £1 million each to the public purse.

Then there are the businesses and enterprises in Shropshire and North Wales which suffer those difficult-to-calculate costs which come from being served by a road which is not as good as it should be.

There have been calls to improve the A5 for years. North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson has been in the vanguard of that, and has been calling for the road to be dualled ever since being elected in 1997.

In the era of austerity, and constant warnings that money was tight, it was an uphill battle. There is though a perceptible change in the political weather. There is talk of investing in Britain and showing that a post-Brexit Britain means business.

What better way of doing that than investing in an important and valuable infrastructure project on one of Britain’s major non-motorway transport routes which will bring safety and economic benefits?

Theresa May wants to set out a bold and confident vision for post-Brexit Britain, but failing to do anything about one of this nation’s key road transport links with the EU – as many of the lorries using the A5 are coming to and from the Republic of Ireland – would speak of a little Britain, lacking confidence, commitment, and imagination.

There has been a long, long, wait for improvements to the A5. But it is unfinished business. And there will never be a better time to crack on with it.