Time to tackle danger on the A1
A cross-party team of MPs is lobbying the government for urgent safety improvements to the A1.
Newark’s Mr Robert Jenrick has enlisted the support of Conservative colleagues Mr Nick Boles (Grantham) and Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) and Labour’s Mr John Mann (Bassetlaw).
They are calling on Transport Secretary Mr Chris Grayling to authorise a full safety review.
Nottinghamshire Police and the county police and crime commissioner, Mr Paddy Tipping, back the call for action.
It follows a six-vehicle crash earlier this month in which 52-year-old Mr Ian Newell, of Grantham, died.
While the cause of the accident is being investigated, concerns have been raised about congestion at the A1/A46 junction where vehicles often have to queue beyond the slip-roads.
During Friday afternoon’s rush-hour the Advertiser saw vehicles queueing on the northbound exit slip-road.
Some vehicles had to swerve to avoid those queueing to get on to the Brownhills roundabout slip-road.
Mr Jenrick told the Advertiser this week: “I have asked Mr Grayling to consider a full review of safety on the A1 between Grantham and Retford, but in particular Coddington and Muskham, and the slip-roads that are acknowledged by Highways England and the police to be dangerous.
“He understood the issue and said he would take it to his civil servants.”
Mr Jenrick said he planned to raise the issue in Parliament at the earliest opportunity.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: “Nottinghamshire Police is working with Highways England to seek solutions to the current problems on the A1 with its junctions with the A46 and A17.
“We are also liaising closely with Robert Jenrick on our work to improve the safety of the road.
“We share the concerns of Mr Jenrick and residents and road users who use that junction.
“Following a fatal collision on the A1 in 2014, a short-term measure was introduced to put up interactive signs to warn drivers of queueing traffic and that remains in place.
“Of course, we would ask drivers to observe these safety warnings and slow down when the signs are activated.
“Longer-term solutions would involve major changes to the A1 infrastructure itself and we will give our support to Highways England and Mr Jenrick when they make representations to the Department for Transport for the major funding and strategic planning that would be needed.”
Mr Tipping said: “I support the call for a full safety review of the A1 and particularly that junction.
“I am a regular user of that (Brownhills) junction and it is dangerous, mainly because of the volume of traffic trying to leave the A1.
“We need to make some progress very quickly and both I and Nottinghamshire Police will back Robert Jenrick in what he is asking for.
“I echo everything that he is saying and will make arrangements to meet with him to talk about it.”
'It is time this stopped'
Mr David Colbeck, a retired Chief Superintendent with Nottinghamshire Police, who spent time as an accident investigator with the force, said a safety review should include the congested A46 Brownhills roundabout.
“Any review needs to result in a long-term fix, not something that will create further issues down the line,” he said.
“We already have bottlenecks created at the Farndon A46 roundabout where the dual carriageway becomes single lane for the bypass and the cattle market roundabout.
“When you cork a bottleneck, you get pressure building up behind that cork. It is time this stopped. Something is fundamentally wrong there.”
Mr Colbeck said he would like to see the roundabout replaced with a flyover.
A spokesman for Highways England said: “We constantly review the safety on all of our roads and continue to work alongside local stakeholders to identify issues that require attention.”
A petition set up by Balderton resident Miss Amiee Fletcher calling for safety improvements to the A1/A46 junction has attracted more than 2,600 signatures.
Mr Jenrick said upgrading the A1 to motorway status could be the answer.
The Government has announced it will draw up a business case in support of proposals to upgrade the A1 from Peterborough to Blyth, including the Newark stretch, to the A1(M).
That would mean the introduction of hard shoulders and improving slip-roads and junctions to motorway standard.
The move was announced by Midlands Connect, a body set up to improve transport connectivity as part of the Government’s Midlands Engine initiative.
Mr Andrew Pritchard, of Midlands Connect, said: “We will develop a programme of how to do those improvements in the next two to three years.
“We are going to try to develop a programme of improvements for that stretch of the A1.”
Mr Pritchard indicated any upgrade to the A1 was unlikely to take place in the next three years.
“Most of this is about getting investment in place after 2020 because most of what is being done between now and 2020 has been decided,” he said.
