Proposed £200m A55/A494 road routes 'should be hybrid'

Two proposals for a new £200m road in Flintshire should be merged to maximise improvement to the North Wales Expressway, the council has said.

The investment aims to tackle congestion on the A494 and A55 around Queensferry and Deeside.

Flintshire cabinet backed the recommendation of its scrutiny committee which preferred the red route, but with blue route elements.

The final plan "should be a hybrid of the two options", the report said.

The red route involves upgrading the A548 over Flintshire Bridge between Connah's Quay and the Wirral and constructing a new link to the A55 at Northop - which was approved as the preferred option by Flintshire's cabinet members on Tuesday.

But councillors agreed a "crawler lane" should be added along the incline westbound section of the A55 towards Halkyn and some changes made to the Ewloe interchange, from the blue route.

"The study concluded that this wider approach to the improvements... are essential if this 'once in a generation' improvement is to provide full benefit for the residents and road users within Flintshire and provide a resilient gateway to Wales for many decades to come," the report added.

Flintshire council has until 7 July to present its formal response to the Welsh Government.

The Welsh Government said the upgrade was needed as the road was "below modern standards".

It will make the final decision, with an announcement expected in the summer.