A consultation which included stopping traffic coming from the village on the old road and crossing the carriageway to access the waiting area to continue towards Monmouth has been identified by Sustrans as a cycle route and say it would affect users of the Sustrans cycle route which follows Monmouth Road and crosses the A40 at this location
This proposal was made by Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) in response to significant community concerns about safety and accident data. The Welsh Government has undertaken to complete a review of the A40 trunk road in the 2023/24 financial year, but MCC has progressed this proposed Prohibition of Right Turn, to make progress in the short term.
In a report going before MCC, authored by three officers for a decision by county councillor Catrin Maby, it says “unfortunately, as part of the consultation process, Sustrans has raised concerns that the proposed prohibition of right turn by vehicles using the highway and the associated works to prevent such manoeuvres would affect users of the Sustrans cycle route which follows Monmouth Road and crosses the A40 at this location”
The report says officers need to discuss this concern further with Sustrans and WG trunk road agency colleagues to consider the options before proceeding further.
The report adds: “It is therefore reluctantly recommended to not proceed with this Prohibition of Right Turn order at this time.
“Following the discussions with 6 Sustrans and WG officers, the position will be reviewed. It is appreciated that this will be a significant disappointment to the local community and elected representatives, and officers will seek to keep them informed of progress.”
Folowing a number of collisions at the junction last year, in December 2022, Cllr Catrin Maby, the Labour cabinet member for climate change and the environment, said preventing the right turn, which means traffic has to cross two lanes of traffic to head towards the interchange, is “the only step the council can take” itself.
In one collision in June, Police, paramedics and firefighters were called to the scene on the Raglan interchange at the junction of the old Monmouth road at around 1.10pm on Saturday June 4 following a collision involving two cars. Three were hospitalised.