Pedestrian crossing call on A69 road in Warwick Bridge
Councillor Roger Dobson (Corby and Hayton, Lib Dems) wants a crossing in Warwick Bridge, on the A69 near the Co-op store, and he has been pressing National Highways for over three years to install either a Zebra or puffin crossing ever since a school crossing supervisor was knocked down by a van. He said that in addition a local resident walking her dog has also been hit by a car and seriously injured. He added: "If National Highways had agreed to my request for a crossing there is little doubt that this lady would not have been hurt.
"They must act now before someone is killed. It is likely that this road will be de-trunked in the near future and responsibility transferred to Cumberland Council, but National Highways should not delay the introduction of this essential safety measure." He said that the cost of a Zebra crossing was about GBP50,000 and added: "Much less than the cost of this recent accident."
During Tuesday's (April 29) meeting of Cumberland Council at Carlisle's Civic Centre cllr Dobson asked councillor Denise Rollo (Harrington, Labour), the sustainable, resilient and connected places portfolio holder, about de-trunking the A69. He asked: "Ninety years after the Department of Transport began exploring by-pass routes for Corby Hill and Warwick Bridge National Highways has identified the A69 from Brampton to the M6 Junction 43 as one of two candidates for de-trunking as part of its road investment strategy for 2025 to 2026 subject to the A689 becoming trunked from Brampton to M6 Junction 44. "The obvious time for this change is end of March 2026 when the 30-year Build and Maintain contract on the A69 expires.
"Can cllr Rollo ensure the council facilitates this change, including renegotiating the PFI contract with Connect that covers several roads like the A689? "Will she also ensure that the Highways Department plan safety improvements in Warwick Bridge so that when the council assumes responsibility, we are able to introduce an HGV ban, enforce a 20-mph speed limit, install at least one pedestrian crossing, and introduce alternate one way working on the bridge to allow safe cycle and pedestrian crossing?" Cllr Rollo said the council would continue to liaise with National Highways and added: "Management of the A69 remains the responsibility of National Highways."
When cllr Dobson asked if there had been a pedestrian crossing on the A69 would have prevented the accident cllr Rollo answered: "I don't think that's a question I can really answer is it?" Nicholas Whitford, National Highways' DBFO team leader, said: "Safety is our number one priority, and we take the safety performance of our network very seriously, with an ambition that no one should be harmed on our roads. "We are in the process of gathering the facts about this incident and we pass on our best wishes to the woman involved.
"We will continue to monitor safety on the A69 and work with local councillors, residents and partners to keep this route as safe as possible for everyone who uses it." In addition, National Highways regularly meets with the police and road safety partnerships to identify any areas of concern. The organisation constantly reviews the performance of its network from a safety perspective and carries out reviews of incidents as a standard to look at contributory factors with a view to identifying if additional safety measures are needed on a particular section of road.
In addition, it receives collision data from the police which contains incident causes.
If the police have concerns over the performance of the network then officers raise this with National Highways immediately following an incident.