NORTH Wales’ busiest road is to be choked with yet more roadworks for another year, transport chiefs have revealed.
The Welsh Assembly Government has announced speed and lane restrictions will be put in place on the A55 and its sliproads from the Llys Y Gwynt interchange, Bangor to the Dobshill interchange in Flintshire, as part of a rolling roadworks programme.
There will be 40mph speed limits in place at various locations between junction 11 and junction 35 while ‘annual maintenance and safety works’ are carried out.
Although the works will not be carried out in all locations at the same time, they will effect different points of the trunk road for the next year.
A notice issued by the Welsh Assembly Government says the works will be carried out between April 1 and May 27, 2011, June 7 and July 15, 2011, September 5 and December 21, 2011 and January 5 and March 31, 2012.
They will extend as far as the A494/A550 interchange at Deeside – the England and Wales border – but will be suspended during the Easter and May bank holiday breaks to prevent tourist traffic chaos.
Motorists have already faced weeks of traffic misery due to stretches of the A55 at Abergele, Colwyn Bay and Llanfairfechan being resurfaced.
They are scheduled to end on April 17 – two days after what is predicted to be one of the busiest days on the roads ever as people start the two-week Easter/Royal wedding holiday getaway.
There is no doubting that areas of the A55 do need maintenance and the road they are currently resurfacing from Abergele to Llanddulas has been in need of work for sometime. My concern is that amount of time it takes to do the work. The Trunk Road agency need to better access the costs versus the time elements.
Would it not be better for everyone if the contracts were awarded to those firms who could do the work as quickly as possible. This may mean spending extra to fund contractors willing to shift plan the work 24hr * 7 days a week.
This may not be possible for areas where it is close to residential properties, but sometime it is worth spending the extra money to improve things for the users of the road and to the businesses and tourism sectors that really so heavily on this main arterial route.
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