Two of South Cumbria’s MPs have joined a meeting with National Highways to discuss how to make the A590 through the county safer.

Cumbrian local newspaper The Mail reports how former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron and Conservative backbencher Simon Fell attended the Cumbria Better Connected meeting to discuss ideas such as introducing average speed cameras and a new roundabout to better manage traffic.

It follows the death of an elderly cyclist on the road on 3 August and a man in his 40s being killed in a crash on the nearby B5278 six days later.

I’m really grateful to Jonathan Reade from National Highways for attending the Cumbria Better Connected meeting to update us on what steps are being taken to make the A590 safer, after the heartbreakingly tragic accidents we have seen over the past few weeks,” Mr Farron told The Mail. “There are a whole raft of measures that are under consideration from average speed cameras to a new roundabout at Gilpin Bridge. Funding remains the big issue to getting all this done so the upcoming Route Strategy Review is going to be so important in us all making the case for these desperately needed measures to help us prevent more accidents and save lives.”

 “I attended Cumbria Better Connected, which meets with stakeholders regularly and is chaired by my constituency neighbour, Tim Farron,” Mr Fell added. “We discussed the A590 and the need for improvements along the road to minimise the number of accidents and shutdowns that we keep seeing. We need that road to be safe and predictable for people to travel along and we now have an opportunity to make the case for change to deliver just that. I’ll be working with Tim and others to make that happen.”

(Picture – Google Streetview)