Safety work at crash blackspot
WORK is starting on a £290,000 road safety improvement project on the A48 in Bridgend.
The work is taking place on a 5km stretch of the A48 between Laleston and Waterton.
WORK has started on a £290,000 road safety improvement project on the A48 in Bridgend.
The work is taking place on a 5km stretch of the A48 between Laleston and Waterton.
It includes a new 50mph speed limit which will replace the current 60mph on the westbound approach to the Broadlands estate.
It will extend as far as the existing 40mph limit near the Ewenny roundabout. It comes after a number of accidents on the route which have included three fatalities.
In July 2016, a teenager died when he was in collision with a motorbike.
Sixteen-year-old Rhys Rubery had been crossing with a group of friends on the section of road where the speed limit is currently 60mph. The inquest into his death heard the oncoming motorbike would have been masked by a car and Rhys would not have seen it.
Under the new road improvements, better street lighting and fresh signage advising drivers to be alert for pedestrians will be installed at key points
And a 3m-wide combined footway and cyclepath is also being created on the verge between Heronston Lane and the Picton Court roundabout – a route regularly used by schoolchildren and resi- dents who live at Picton Gardens.
Existing road markings will be adjusted to provide a safety zone for the combined footway and cyclepath.
Undergrowth has already been cleared to help improve driver visibility, and pedestrian crossing points near the Broadlands roundabout will be enhanced along with crossings at Heronston Lane.
The works will take place between 8am and 5.30pm, and on Saturday mornings.
Bridgend Councillor Richard Young, cabinet member for communities, said: “These changes are designed to greatly improve the safety of drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, and have been made possible thanks to funding from Welsh Government.
“The work follows an independent report commissioned by Bridgend County Borough Council which revealed that there were 32 collisions along this stretch of the A48 between 2011 and 2015.
“Half of these collisions involved a ‘rear-end shunt’ between vehicles, and 9% were between vehicles and pedestrians.
“Three of the collisions involved fatalities, seven were classed as ‘serious’, and 22 as ‘slight’.
“While the study found that the collision rate was less than the national average for corresponding types of road, nine of the 32 collisions occurred at night, six took place during wet weather, and alcohol, driver error and illegal manoeuvres were also significant factors.
“It is clear that the works are necessary to help improve safety along this busy route, and we will do everything we can to keep inconvenience to a minimum while the project is underway.”
The work is expected to be completed by early October.