Written - Proposals To Widen The A494 In Flintshire Into A Six Lane Highway

The A494 is an important strategic route linking North Wales and Ireland to Merseyside and the UK motorway network, but also enables a large number of local people to access their jobs and other facilities over a wide range of destinations.  The existing road suffers considerable congestion which will worsen for the foreseeable future if the widening is not carried out.  This will adversely affect the economy of the area and cause disruption to local peoples’ lives.  The scheme will bring the road up to modern design standards, improve safety and will reduce noise levels for the vast majority of local residents by screening the road.  The junctions on the existing road are below current standards in terms of spacing, forward visibility, merge and diverge lengths and slip road widths and radii.  These features all contribute to the junctions having accident rates significantly higher than the national average.

Proposals for the trunk road are for 3 lanes northbound and 4 lanes southbound (including a climbing lane on the uphill section) with hard shoulders on each side compared to the existing 2-lane dual carriageway.  There are also parallel side roads which allow local people to conduct their business without having to use the trunk road.  The Assembly Government is proposing the minimum number of lanes that are operationally required.  The addition of the hard shoulders is to make the route safer for any broken down vehicles, provide free passage for emergency vehicles and provide additional capacity when maintenance operations need to be undertaken.

The A494 Drome Corner to Ewloe improvement scheme is in the Assembly Government’s Trunk Road Forward Programme.  The scheme is still subject to the satisfactory completion of the statutory consent procedures under the Highways Act 1980.  Draft Orders were published on 29 December and objections and representations should be submitted by 16 February.  A Public Local Inquiry will almost certainly be held this Summer.  If the draft Orders are made the scheme could start construction in 2008 subject to the availability of finance.