Safety campaigners want A38 dual carriageway

21 January 2019, 14:39 | Updated: 21 January 2019, 14:46

Road safety campaign group Safe38 have launched a petition calling on the Government to include plans to establish a dual carriageway between Saltash and Trerulefoot.

At a meeting of cross-party MPs, campaigners and councillors in October 2018, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling backed the need to implement urgent safety measures along the A38 trunk road. 

However, Mr Grayling gave no confirmation that the road would feature in the Government's next Road Improvement Strategy (RIS2) for the period 2020-2025. 

The launch of the Safe38 parliamentary petition calls on the Government to urgently review the need to include funding for a dual carriageway along the route between Saltash and Trerulefoot in RIS2 before the deadline in March 2019.

The group stress the new road will not only address the safety concerns presented by the current A38 but will be fit for purpose to meet growing capacity and user demand safely, support regional economic growth, improve the local environment and bring local village air quality within acceptable levels. 

Around 23,500 people a day use the A38 stretch between Saltash and Trerulefoot. 

This road has an accident and fatality rate that is more than twice the national average. 

Together both roads, along with the proposed park and ride at Menheniot would provide South East Cornwall with an integrated transport network fit for purpose for generations to come. 

If funding is allocated in RIS2, there is the possibility that work on the route could begin as early as 2025. 

However, if it is pushed back to the next round of funding to cover the period 2025-2030, work is not likely to start until after 2030. 

Chair of Safe A38 james Millidge said; "We feel that 11 years is just too long to wait for substantial improvements to journeys between Saltash and Trerulefoot. 

"While the safety and economic reasons behind a new road are convincing, we don't consider a dual carriageway to be simply about providing a route for more cars and more people, it is about improving the environment we all live in, enabling the current single carriageway A38 to be used as a local access road for buses, cyclists and local traffic." 

The petition can be signed at - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/233970 

To find out more about Safe38 and to join the campaign visit www.safe38.org or visit Facebook Safe38