Yesterday's re-routing of vehicles through Brigg due to an incident on the M180 demonstrated the wisdom of building this motorway in the late 1970s.
Just imagine the volume of extra traffic diverted from the motorway that our town endured for much of yesterday coming through Brigg every day!
That would be the case if the government had decided against building the motorway which became a more humble A-road for the final stretch eastbound from Barnetby Top.
Did they run out of money to finish the job as far as Grimsby?
Yet once the M180 had been sanctioned there were businesses in Brigg concerned about the loss of "passing trade."
It was not so much that they were against the motorway, but they realised that drivers travelling between Grimsby and Immingham and Scunthorpe and Doncaster would be unaware of what Brigg had to offer once they took the M-way instead of the A18.
Therefore, a business-led campaign to Keep Brigg on the Map came into being.
The arrival of the motorway did not bring instant relief from heavy traffic for Brigg.
This was because it took some years for the government to add the vital M180/A15 link road from Briggate Lodge roundabout to a point south of Redbourne.
Until that opened, many lorries from the Immingham/Grimsby area still left the motorway at Barnetby Top and followed the A18 through Wrawby, Brigg, Hibaldstow and Redbourne to join the A15 near the Lincolnshire/Humberside border, as it then was.
Whenever they have to close all, or part, of the M180, due to accidents, lorry fires or bad weather, the subsequent diversion of traffic through Brigg - and the tailbacks that result - give us a timely reminder that we owe an awful lot to the M180 and the people who released the funds for its construction all those years ago.
But it comes down to the fundamental problem of Brigg being a one-road town
ReplyDeleteEverything has to travel along Barnard Ave, crossing the only road bridge (ignoring the M180) in the area.
Brigg needs a second river crossing...this will have an obvious effect of alleviating traffic volume flows, but will also promote the town to expand during the next generations.
At the moment, about 95 percent of improvements to the traffic infrastructure in the UK is directed to London and the SE.
We now have AP MP..a minister for improving the economic position of the North.
We must not feel reluctant to press for dualling the A15 between Briggate to Lincoln...and this will increase traffic volume around Brigg.
Therefore, in conjunction with such improvement, we have to be proactive in demanding....
1. A second river crossing + road
2. Direct access to and from Brigg to the M180.
Unless something is done, Brigg could become a one-horse town where the only time to stop will be in a traffic queue en route to somewhere else.