A MAJOR plan has been launched to cut traffic at one of Wrexham’s most notorious blackspots.

Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s have submitted radical proposals which could hold the key to easing congestion on and around the Plas Coch roundabout.

Sainsbury’s plan to widen Plas Coch Road to two lanes on the side coming out of the retail park towards the Mold Road roundabout by buying land from the nearby Homebase store.

The area is notorious for the high volume of traffic using the road to get to the retail park, university accommodation and a nearby primary school.

During peak hours, queues of vehicles can stretch from the Mold Road roundabout all the way in to Sainsbury’s.

The supermarket wants to reconfigure the road entirely to provide a dual carriageway coming out of the retail park.

The moves have been welcomed by community leaders as a step forward in resolving the problems.

In June last year we reported how Sainsbury’s had entered into crisis talks with transport bosses at Wrexham Council to come up with a solution to the problem.

Cllr David Bithell, the council’s lead member for transport said that, while he did not want to pre-empt the planning application, if approved it would go some way to resolving long-standing traffic problems.

He said: “This improvement will complement the works being planned by Wrexham Council to improve accessibility in to and around Wrexham town centre.”

A planning application has now been handed in to Wrexham Council by WSP Development and Transportation, on behalf of Sainsbury’s, outlining the plans.

Last year it was revealed that staff at the supermarket were having to direct drivers leaving the customer car park in a bid to get them on the move.

A ‘design and access’ statement, which has now been submitted to the local authority along with the planning application, says Homebase have already agreed to provide additional land for road reconfiguration work to be carried out.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “By utilising land currently owned by Homebase, we will be able to widen the road and ease congestion for the benefit of our customers and Homebase shoppers. Both the Sainsbury’s store and Homebase will continue to trade as usual.”

Community councillor Brenda Roberts said: “Until we see the plans it is difficult to say positively ‘yes’ or ‘no’. But something has to be done about the volume of traffic – it took me nearly half an hour to drive from my home (in Rhosddu) to the hospital recently.”

A decision on the proposals is likely to be made at a future meeting of Wrexham Council’s planning committee.