Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:21 pm on 6 June 2017.
Can I ask you whether we can have a statement on the A55 trunk road? The Minister will be aware that there was an incident over the weekend that caused 13-mile tailbacks on the A55. This is in the height of the, sort of, tourism season in that part of north Wales. That tailback continued for five hours. It was so long a duration that people were literally doing line dancing on the A55 dual carriageway; they were playing cricket on the A55 dual carriageway. Now, I know that from time to time there will be incidents on this very busy trunk road, which does not have sufficient hard shoulders for the whole of its length, but there was significant cost incurred by the taxpayer a few years ago in order to install gates within the central barrier of the A55. We need an explanation, I think, for the people of north Wales, and for the tourism businesses that were affected by this horrendous tailback, as to why those central barriers were not opened on this occasion and why that delay continued for such a long time. These things are unacceptable and we have to start using and reaping the rewards of the investment that has been made in that part of the trunk road network. Can we have a statement on this so that we don’t have to endure these sorts of embarrassing problems and cock-ups again in the future?