Calls for safety improvements on the A1 in Northumberland have escalated after five people died in two major incidents just nine days apart. Campaigners have said the current traffic situation on the key route is “the worst it has ever been”, says the BBC.
The government has pledged to improve safety at certain junctions in the county but further details, including timescales, have yet to be confirmed.
However, Northumberland County Council’s Conservative leader Glen Sanderson and Labour’s North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said local safety schemes would not solve the problem and both called for a scrapped dualling scheme to be reviewed.
Councillor Isabel Hunter, who represents the Berwick West with Ord ward on Northumberland County Council, has been calling for the road to be dualled up to the Scottish border for decades.
“I’m not bothered who is in government, we need this A1 dualled on safety grounds,” the Liberal Democrat said. We can’t lose any more lives. It can’t go on. It is closed on a weekly basis at the moment due to accidents.”
On Thursday 21 May three people died and another was seriously hurt following a crash between Denwick and South Charlton, before two people died and three more were taken to hospital after a collision at Wandylaw on Saturday 30 May.
The road was also closed on Sunday after an incident at the Charlton Hall junction, with minor injuries reported after a two-vehicle collision.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Sanderson and McGuinness said their main concern regarded the “safety compromise that inevitably takes place” when a road changes between dual and single carriageway.
“This has resulted in unacceptable levels of death and serious injury, along with the resultant grief and harm that takes place,” they said.
The safety schemes currently under way would not address overcapacity and the lack of dual carriageway, they said, asking that party politics be put aside to allow for a discussion.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said it was “actively working on solutions” to improve safety.
The A1 covers some 370 miles (595 km) in England and is a dual carriageway or motorway between the North Circular Road in London and Morpeth.
Plans to dual 13 miles (20 km) north of Morpeth were approved by the former Conservative government following a number of delays but work never got under way.
The current Labour government scrapped the scheme, claiming the project was unfunded and the £500m cost represented poor value for money.
(Picture: Mapillary)
