New road could be built to alleviate A55/A494 bottleneck but Red Route 'very divisive'
Congestion on the A494 route into and out of Wales remains a "real problem" and a new road could be built to solve the issue. Transport Secretary Ken Skates spoke to North Wales Live about ways to try to ease the border bottleneck in Flintshire.
The A494/A55/Flintshire Corridor - the 'red route' was previously identified as the preferred option for relieving congestion on this key cross border route. The red route was a new eight-mile dual carriageway, linking the A55 at Northop with the A494 and A550 north of Deeside Parkway Junction via the Flintshire Bridge.
But this was scrapped by the last Welsh Government Transport chief Lee Waters as part of the roads review in Wales. While that move came under fire from many it was welcomed by those who had strongly opposed the project due to environmental concerns.
It was put back on the agenda in the draft Regional Transport Plan for North Wales which is being consulted on. This week the nation's current Transport Secretary Mr Skates said work was needed to alleviate the congestion on the key A494/A55 route.
He said a new road was one of the options. But he added he did not think they can return to the Red Route plan as it stood. He said the proposal to go through ancient woodland proved "too divisive" but that an alternative route would be possible.
He told North Wales Live: "We recognise there is still a real problem with congestion on the A494 and we need to do resilience work to ensure we can alleviate that. We are moving forward with the River Dee Bridge replacement scheme. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
"The Regional Transport Plan provides a really compelling case for investment in roads and we will respond to it. On A494 the prospect of increasing lanes on Aston Hill has gone because of the building work(next to the road) but we are looking at all opportunities and options.
"I don't think we can go back to the Red Route plans as they stood, I think going through ancient woodland proved to be very divisive but that doesn't mean we can't examine alternatives to that particular project and alternatives that would provide resilience for the A55 and A494 and address concerns around congestion while recognising we need to minimise our impact on the environment.
(Image: North Wales Live)
"I'm not ruling out a new road because the region itself through the corporate joint committee and Regional Transport Plan said that work has to be done so we need to look at what could be done, what is the answer, what is possible and what we can afford, but I'm not ruling out a route that could alleviate congestion."
On the third Menai crossing, he added: "We are also moving ahead with resilience work on the Menai crossing but I wouldn't rule out a project to see a third crossing if that's what the region wants."
The minister also said they were putting more money and decision making powers into the hands of local authorities to decide how transport cash should be spent.
He added: "We are getting local authorities more involved in decisions about what roads are needed. We are transferring responsibility for local transport grants to the corporate joint committee to the region next year and we are giving them freedom and flexibility to determine how that money should be spent."
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