Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, recently met with the Secretary of State for Transport to push the urgent need for funding to enable essential modifications at the Churchbridge Junction.
The Churchbridge Junction, which incorporates three separate roundabouts, connects up the A5 Trunk Road, the M6 Toll (Junction T7), the A460 Cannock Eastern Bypass and the A34.
It was last rebuilt, in 2004, for the opening of the M6 Toll. However, the flawed design has since resulted in long queues along the A460 and A34.
In the 2012 Autumn Statement, the Government set aside an additional £100m towards Pinch Point schemes, set up to tackle key bottlenecks on the highway network.
The Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire LEP and Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP submitted an application to access this funding, in order to pay for improvements to the Churchbridge Junction, a step which had Gavin’s full support
Following representations made by Aidan Burley, MP for Cannock Chase, Gavin met with the Secretary of State for Transport, to elucidate the urgent need for action in this matter.
Gavin said: “The current design of the roundabouts is an absolute dog’s dinner. It is confusing to motorists and can cause a great amount of congestion in both South Staffordshire and Cannock.
“It is vitally important that we get the funding from the Government to improve these roundabouts in order to help residents who have to suffer the congestion caused by this poor design, as well as the many local businesses that have to deal with it every day. “Both Aidan and I have been hammering home this message to the Department of Transport and hope that we are able to secure this vital funding to the benefit of people in South Staffordshire and Cannock.”
Aidan added: "Local people who use the Churchbridge Junction will know only too well of the congestion problems particularly at morning and evening peak – and so I am determined to do what I can to persuade Ministers to give this scheme the go ahead.”