Investment to remove traffic pinch points increased journey times

A Highways England investment in Shrewsbury that was designed to remove a pinch point in the road network has instead been found to have increased journey times.

Analysis by Highways England as part of a review of dozens of schemes described a mixed picture of improvements but the A5-A49 Preston Boats scheme in Shrewsbury was highlighted as the worst of those assessed, and labelled as a major outlier.

The report said: “The scheme introduced signals on the roundabout between the A5 and A49. The A5 through movement and A5 east to A49 movement have very high flows, but now these are held back by signals, causing large journey time dis-benefits which far outweighed the benefits the scheme brought to minor flow movements.”

Its Pinch Point Programme targets small-scale infrastructure projects costing up to £10m which are designed to improve conditions at key local sites.

The initial aims of the investments were to support economic growth and improve congestion and safety outcomes.

However it now recognises that “it is not always possible to expect a single small scheme to deliver benefits across these three objectives at the same time”, and that the aims were not always complementary – for example, introducing speed restrictions improved safety but increased journey times.

Its analysis found that most of the schemes benefitted rush-hour drivers and the slowest journeys were improved by around 20%. But the impact of the changes throughout the entire day actually created a net increase in journey times.