Ongoing concerns about the safety of a junction on the busy main route into Pembrokeshire from Carmarthenshire have been highlighted once again - with a growing list of crashes and near misses flagged-up.

Members of the Eglwyscummin Community Council and residents of the village of Red Roses held a road-side meeting with local politicians Samuel Kurtz (Conservative Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire), Cefin Campbell (Plaid Cymru's Member of the Senedd for Mid & West Wales), and Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyrddin, Ann Davies on Friday, January 17 to highlight what they consider to be an ‘unsafe’ junction.

Growing concerns about the safety of the Red Roses junction brought about by the increase in near misses and accidents from users of the junction was evidenced during the meeting.

The community hope that continued pressured on Welsh Government will deliver the additional safety modifications needed to reduce the number of incidents happening at the junction.

Local Senedd Member Samuel Kurtz, has been leading the campaign with the Community Council and has been liaising with SWTRA and Welsh Government Ministers to call for action on this junction.

Mr Kurtz recently led a successful campaign to change the road layout of the notorious A477 Nash Fingerpost junction following several serious accidents, which is already seen to be of real benefit to the local community.

He hopes to build on this success by continuing to fight for further improvements in Red Roses and address the speeding issues being experienced on the A477 through the village of Milton.

Following the community meeting, Mr Kurtz commented: “The Community Council have been extremely active in sharing the experiences that drivers are having at this junction and have put forward some recommendations that they believe will make it safer.

“Sadly, it’s a typical case of the junction meeting all the criteria on paper, but in practice, it's dangerous and needs addressing.

“In this case, traffic travelling Westward towards Pembroke at speed have no turn off lane before having to slow down to virtually a standstill to make the narrow sharp lefthand turn off the A477 to Red Roses.
“In this case, traffic travelling Westward towards Pembroke at speed have no turn off lane before having to slow down to virtually a standstill to make the narrow sharp lefthand turn off the A477 to Red Roses,” said Samuel Kurtz (Pic supplied)

“In this case, traffic travelling Westward towards Pembroke at speed have no turn off lane before having to slow down to virtually a standstill to make the narrow sharp lefthand turn off the A477 to Red Roses.

“On this fast busy road, it has been the root cause of the sign being crashed into on several occasions as drivers have failed to make the turn. There are crashes or near misses, as cars break sharply to try to make the turn as safely as possible.”

He continued: “I believe that there are some relatively straight forward steps that can be taken which will deliver improvement and I’ve been asking Welsh Government for a review of the A477 and will invite road officials to see for themselves the junction in use. But I do need feedback from the local community to help make the case to Welsh Government.

“I’m asking people to get in touch with me via my Facebook page or email to share their experience, opinion, or example of any issues they may have had or witnessed using this stretch of road,” added Mr Kurtz.