Danger roads set to get £5m safety upgrade A
LMOST £5million is to be spent on making two of
Macclesfield’s most dangerous roads safer.
Cheshire East Council is set to secure £2.49 million from the Department for Transport (DfT) to carry out road safety improvements on the A537.
It runs out of Macclesfield, through Henbury and past Monks Heath and is seen as an accident blackspot including a fatal crash early last year.
A further £2.31m has already been secured for safety measures on the A536 between Macclesfield and Congleton, another road with a concerning accident record.
Cheshire East Council has also been given another £1.1m to improve the A532 at West Street, in Crewe.
Councillor Mick Warren, cabinet member for communities, told a cabinet meeting: “As an expolice officer who has attended many fatal and serious road traffic collisions, I have seen firsthand the impact that these events have on families and communities in devastating fashion.
“Road deaths in Cheshire are on the rise and have been for a number of years.
“I very much welcome this investment by the government into three of our main roads to try and bring down those fatalities and serious incidents, and reduce the impact that has on our communities and residents.”
The three roads were chosen by the DfT following work with the Road Safety Foundation to analyse crash statistics and pick out the most dangerous roads in the country.
But questions have been raised as to whether other roads should have been chosen.
Coun Tony Dean, member for Knutsford, suggested many councillors were ‘taken by surprise’ when realising the cash from government was going to Crewe, Macclesfield and Congleton.
He told the meeting: “How did these specific lengths of road become the chosen ones?
“The borough has many lengths of road which need making safer in Nantwich, Middlewich, Knutsford, even I believe Sandbach - and there are other towns outside these historic main towns.”
Coun Craig Browne, deputy council leader, explained that the government chose the roads that were eligible before council officers identified works that could take place on them.