National Highways has been urged to “pull their finger out” by Lincolnshire County Council’s executive member for highways over an increasing number of serious accidents on the A1 between Grantham and Stamford.

Richard Davies described the situation as an ‘absolute disgrace’ after the rising number of weekly accidents and delays, says Lincs Online.

He expressed frustration, arguing that potential plans to close junctions and add signs would be insufficient and would severely impact residents. He said fixing the A1 required ‘substantial motorway-like upgrades’ over 20 years, including bypasses, lanes, and bridges.

“When we started talking about this three or four years ago, we were looking at the road being closed for a couple of hours once a fortnight because of accidents; now we’re seeing closures weekly.

“My heart goes out to people who are physically affected, along with their friends and family, but also to the knock-on impact on the local community in places like Grantham, Harrowby, Long Bennington, and all the other villages up and down from Stamford to Newark.”

“The A1 is the busiest arterial road for HGV traffic in the country, more so than the M1, and the fact that it’s not getting that level of investment shows that we, under successive governments, have been the poor relation of the nation in terms of the East Midlands.”

In response, National Highways said it was taking the safety of road users “very seriously,” pointing to its ongoing studies into crossing points along the A1.

However, National Highways programme development manager, Ian Doust, added: “It is important that we capture the context and patterns of incidents along the length of the A1 so we can fully understand the causation factors and take meaningful and informed action, rather than commit taxpayers’ money to plans that will not provide effective solutions.