Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar has urged the Welsh Government to invest in the A55 trunk road to improve congestion issues.

He called for the addition of hard shoulders and contraflows to ease traffic.

Questioning the Transport Secretary in Wednesday's meeting of the Welsh Parliament, after he responded to colleagues concerns regarding last Thursday’s Conwy tunnel fire which caused major congestion on the A55, Mr. Millar reiterated previous calls he has made for the trunk road, which is the major artery into North Wales, to be improved.

He said creating hard shoulders along large parts of its length and planning for contraflows to be enabled would alleviate congestion.     

“It's been raised by other colleagues in terms of the resilience of the A55 trunk road, and it is something that I have raised many times in the past too.

“You say that you can't plan for all eventualities, but what you can do is improve the road to the extent that there are hard shoulders available.

“You can also plan for contraflows to be enabled, to save diversions through some of our town centres and villages, which then become choked up with traffic. 

“What people want to see is investment in the A55 trunk road. It is the key artery for our economy, for people getting to and from the locations that they need to get to for work, for education, for hospitals, et cetera.

“Why can't you do a focused piece of work on resilience just on this one particular road, taking into account the need for contraflows, making sure that we've got a phased approach to improvements in terms of the delivery of hard shoulders, so that we can make sure that the A55 is fit for purpose and that it isn't frequently beset with regular traffic jams, which give a negative impression of Wales?"

Responding, the Cabinet Secretary said: “There are resilience issues that affect many of our trunk roads. We will be carrying out specific work in regard to the A55, but I believe that there is a broader piece of work required to look at all of our major routes.”

Speaking after the meeting, Mr. Millar said: “The A55 is the lifeblood of the North Wales economy, but sadly it has the unpopular accolade of being one of the worst congested roads in the UK. It is therefore vital that the Welsh Government make improving this trunk road a priority.”