7. Welsh Conservatives Debate: The roads review

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:19 pm on 8 March 2023.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 5:19, 8 March 2023

(Translated)

Thank you very much. As you can imagine, I want to focus on one project specifically, namely the Menai crossing. I say 'the Menai crossing', because do bear in mind that we're not asking for a third bridge over the Menai necessarily; we are talking about a resilient crossing. Do it in another way, without another bridge, if you like. And there have been a number of inquiries that have looked at alternative options—getting rid of the towers and widening the road, putting a three-lane system in place, providing new lanes on cantilevers on the Britannia bridge. But the conclusion is, every time, that some sort of new bridge is the solution.

But, as I say, I am looking for resilience. It is a vulnerable crossing, where high winds or accidents can close the bridge for extended periods, and the Menai bridge is inadequate as a fallback, and we saw that for a period for three months months recently. We were one storm, one accident, one event away from being totally isolated, and that isn't a situation that I'm willing to put up with.

There are two parts to what we are seeking: dualling the Britannia, the A55—ensuring proper flow of traffic, not more traffic. The rest of the road, of course, has been dualled for hundreds of miles, from Ireland to eastern Europe, in terms of that strategic artery. We're not talking about a special case across the Menai; we just want to be like the rest of the A55. And the other part is to allow active travel. Now, I don't know whether the Minister has cycled over the Britannia bridge—I have done so a few times, and it's not a pleasant experience. I'm quite sure that the Minister won't have walked over the bridge, because you're not allowed to, and the result of this is that a highly populated area like Llanfairpwll and the surrounding area don't have any links through active travel to sites of work at Ysbyty Gwynedd and Parc Menai. I've been seeing if there's a possibility for having a walkway or a cycle route on the lower deck on the Britannia bridge. It's possible, the space is there, but the roads review refers to the possibility that that lower deck will be needed for an additional railway line—