ROAD-widening plans aimed at easing traffic congestion at one of Wrexham’s worst bottlenecks could get the go-ahead next week.

Sainsbury’s has submitted proposals which could be crucial in easing congestion on and around the Plas Coch roundabout.

Sainsbury’s plan is 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 proposals, which come before the local authority’s planning committee on Monday, are recommended for approval by officers.

Concerns have been raised locally that the scheme may impact on pedestrian safety.

A report by chief planning officer Lawrence Isted, to go before councillors, says:
“The existing crossing point of Plas Coch Road near the roundabout involves a signal-controlled crossing on the Glyndwr University side, but on the DIY store side pedestrians have to cross two lanes of traffic with no signal. At present these two lanes merge into one, and this will remain the case.

“The scheme presents an opportunity to improve a traffic bottleneck and should have no significant detrimental impact on visual amenity or on highway and pedestrian safety.”

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 to provide a dual carriageway coming out of the retail park.