Dual the A5 campaign: Shropshire fire chief praises our drive
Shropshire's Fire Service says improvements are desperately needed on the county's single carriageway section of the A5.
Fire chiefs say it is no coincidence that Oswestry fire station, closest to the trunk road, is the busiest, on-call station in Shropshire.
The town's two fire crews are regularly called out to deal with crashes on the route.
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Chief Fire Officer, Rod Hammerton, praised the Shropshire Star for highlighting the campaign to dual the A5 north west of Shrewsbury to the Welsh border.
Mr Hammerton attended a meeting in May when roads minister, John Hayes, came to see the problems of the A5 for himself.
The minister is consulting with the public over which projects should feature in the government's Road Investment Strategy.
This week Mr Hammerton reiterated his views over the A5.
"Our focus is very clear. The A5 is one of the more important arterial roads in Shropshire and it is no accident that Oswestry is our busiest fire station.
READ MORE: Full coverage of our 'Dual the A5' campaign
"There are 20, on call, fire stations and Oswestry has more call-outs than any other by some measure. This is due in quite a large part to the fact that they frequently attend incidents and accidents on the A5.
"There is a particular problem when a dual carriageway changes to single carriageway."
Mr Hammerton said that traffic volumes on the single carriageway section of the A5 were so great, particularly the amount of heavy goods vehicles, that it sometimes had an effect on the time that it took to respond to 999 calls.
"It can occasionally be a struggle to get to fires and accidents because of the sheer volume of traffic."
He said the impact of any closure of the A5 was also a problem for such a rural area.
"It can also cause problems of access to us," he said.
"The campaign to dual the A5 has been running for some time and we welcome the fact that the Shropshire Star is highlighting the issue."
