Old road plan to ease A5 problems

A 1km section of the A5 closed on Friday evening

Plans are being made to reopen a stretch of the old A5 in north Wales to try to ease traffic problems caused by the closure of part of the new road.

A 1km stretch between Dinmael, Conwy, and Ty Nant, Denbighshire - closed on Friday - may not reopen for months while work goes on an unsafe rock face.

Talks are under way with landowners to reopen part of the old A5.

Politicians met residents who are worried that the local economy will be hit by the closure.

Clwyd West AM Alun Pugh told the meeting at the Glan y Bors karting track in Cerrigydrudion that some engineering work did need to be done on the old A5 road, because it been closed for ten years.

But he said the Welsh Assembly Government was confident that the road could be open to cars and vans - but not heavy goods vehicles - in between a fortnight and three weeks.

Alun Pugh spoke to residents at the meeting

Asked whether contingency plans could have been put in place sooner, Mr Pugh said some had taken place and led to a consultants' report which found rock anchors on the stretch of the new A5 "were fundamentally unsafe".

He said: "there could have been a catastrophic failure at any time and you would literally get hundreds of tonnes of rock coming all over the road and there could have been multiple fatalities so I don't think Andrew Davies had any choice whatsoever."

Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru MP for neighbouring Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, said it was important to get the message to tourists that the A5 as a whole, and therefore tourist attractions in the area, were not closed.

At a vital time for those businesses, namely the bank holiday weekend, he said the welcome was as warm as ever, and that traffic could get through, albeit with some diversions.

No alternative road

Clwyd West MP David Jones criticised the Welsh Assembly Government for not acting sooner on the repairs and said there should have been contingency plans in place.

"What most of the people here today are objecting about is not the fact that the road has to be closed at all, but that there has been no alternative road in place," said the Conservative MP.

The 1km stretch of the A5 closed at 2100 BST on Friday with diversions stretching for around five miles put in place.

The assembly government has said: "An extensive programme of testing and risk assessment...has shown that the rock face is unstable, with the potential of catastrophic falls onto the carriageway."