NARROW ROAD ‘IS NOT SAFE’
‘URGENT ACTION’ CALL FOLLOWING ACCIDENTS
THERE are urgent calls for changes to be made to a Llanelli road amid fears someone will be killed because it isn’t wide enough for two vehicles to pass, despite having white lines down the middle.
The B4308 runs through the small hamlet of Cwmbach and connects Trimsaran with Llanelli.
Despite a site visit in 2012 by Carmarthenshire Council – which measured the road and found it to be only 5.1m in width at its narrowest point, therefore acknowledging that the centre white lines were unsuitable and should be removed – the long-running row continues.
A decade and several crashes later – including in recent months – nothing has been done, sparking new calls for action.
THERE are urgent calls for changes to be made to a Welsh road amid fears someone will be killed because it isn’t actually wide enough for two vehicles to pass, despite having white lines down the middle.
The B4308 runs through the small hamlet of Cwmbach and connects the village of Trimsaran with Carmarthenshire’s biggest town, Llanelli. It’s a busy stretch of singlecarriageway with broken white lines running down its centre.
Nothing unusual about that, people might suppose as they make their way to or from Llanelli, but on closer inspection there is one factor which makes the road particularly dangerous, according to locals.
Put simply, it is too narrow for vehicles to safely pass each other, despite at first appearing to motorists like a typical B-road with ample space on either side.
According to the UK Government’s Department for Transport: “Where the carriageway is less than 5.5m in width, the centre line should be omitted but edged lines (the ones on the side of a road), where used, continued.
“Where edge lines are not already in use, their introduction over the length where the centre line is interrupted will help draw attention to the hazard.”
Parts of the B4308 are narrower than 5.5m, yet the road is still marked with white centre lines and edge lines, creating the impression that two vehicles can safely pass each other.
One resident who lives along the road, which has a 40mph limit despite being partly residential, has been left exasperated.
“You can hear people slamming the brakes on once they realise that the road narrows the way it does,” she said. “Sometimes I can hear wing-mirrors colliding as people pass each other.”
To make matters worse, a wall which runs along the south side of the road has been damaged over the years, mainly from cars and lorries colliding with it, causing stones to loosen and fall into the road.
Parts of the road also have no pavement whatsoever, despite the fact that public footpaths lead on to it.
This isn’t a new problem, either, or one the people of Cwmbach and the surrounding areas have just noticed.
It has been this way for generations. Carmarthenshire Council even visited the site in 2012 after a tractor knocked stone out of the roadside wall as it tried to avoid a bus coming in the other direction.
The council measured the road and found it to be only 5.1m in width at its narrowest point, therefore acknowledging that the centre white lines were unsuitable and should be removed from the middle of the road, or that the road should be widened if the central lines were to remain.
A decade and several crashes later – including one serious collision in December 2012 – nothing has been done.
In December last year, the issue was once again discussed with Carmarthenshire Council, which said “requests of this nature make a far greater call on our resources than budgets can realistically deliver”.
As something of an olive branch, the expansion of the road to the minimum width set out by the Department for Transport was recorded for inclusion in a future review of the “highway infrastructure and road safety prioritised list”.
Nearly a year later, still nothing has been done.
The frustration felt by people who live nearby and use the road is heightened by the fact that the man who owns the land next to it has openly offered to gift the council a portion of it for free, so that not only can the road be widened but a new and adequate pavement can be built alongside it, boosting connectivity between the Cwmbach area and Llanelli.
Despite the offer, there are currently no plans to carry out the necessary work.
“It’s a big concern because the road is marked as a two-lane road when it shouldn’t be,” said Ed Mansel Lewis, owner of the Stradey Estate which runs along one side of the B4308.
“I have offered the council some land to make the road wider and to add a pavement further along the road where there isn’t one currently.
“There are two public paths that join the road but both entry points have no pavement, so walkers are coming straight out on to a B-road.
“It puts us in a difficult position because we want to do right by the residents around here but we cannot control the way the road is marked.
“The only thing I can think of is to offer the council a piece of land for free so that they can widen the road and make it safer.
“The council told us that it would consider putting the issue on its priority list, but that was 10 months ago now.
“As it is, it will continue to be a hazard for motorists and there will be more traffic collisions, and if people crash into the wall, that will continue to get worse and fall into the road – it’s a cycle which is making this road more and more dangerous. We just watch it getting worse.”
Mr Lewis and his wife have started a petition, which has already collected hundreds of signatures, in an attempt to make the road safer.
As well as the narrow width and lack of adequate pavement, the speed limit is also a concern.
“The speed limit is important because it exacerbates the hazard – people are travelling faster and then all of a sudden they realise that the road narrows,” added Mr Lewis, who believes the limit should be reduced from 40mph to 30mph and that a pavement should run alongside the entire length of the road.
“The main concern of course is that one day someone will be killed along this stretch and I am trying to find a solution to that horrible potential situation. Offering some land so that the council can make changes to the road is the only thing I can do.”
Carmarthenshire Council has been asked to comment.