Credit: By MARI JONES Daily Post Reporter, published on http://www.dailypost.co.uk/
THE Conwy Tunnel was shut for over two hours on Tuesday night following a "major failure" in the safety control systems. The systems affect the A55 tunnel's ventilation system, lane signals, gantry signs, and several monitoring and alarm systems. The Welsh Government are now investigating the incident which caused chaos on the A55 following the sudden closure of the tunnel in both directions just after 6pm.
Motorists were stuck in gridlocked traffic for nearly two and half hours and traffic was backed up for miles.
Clwyd West MP David Jones has described the incident as "unacceptable" and says the A55 is in desperate need for an upgrade.
He said: "The problem needs to be addressed so that it won't happen again.
"The A55 desperately needs an upgrade, parts of the road is around 50 years old.
"But unfortunately the Welsh Government only seems interested in the Pounds 1 billion upgrade of the M4 in Newport.
"When I was Secretary of State for Wales I made sure they had the same borrowing powers to extend to the A55 so that they could finance an upgrade, it desperately needs one."
The MP added: "This is neglect and is totally unacceptable."
Jim Jones from North Wales Tourism said: "This along with the railways has to be a priority for the Welsh Government to get sorted.
"Our tourism sector is booming and more and more visitors are coming to North Wales and unfortunate incidents like the chaos on the A55 last night could prevent them from visiting again."
Aberconwy AM, Janet Finch-Saunders, said: "Motorists have had enough of the almost daily gridlock on the A55, and this latest fiasco will have exasperated many once more. With little reason for the closure other than alleged 'system failure',' motorists will be frustrated by this lack of information and the Welsh Government continuing to drag its heels over the A55.
"We need to alleviate the pressure on long-suffering motorists and upgrading the A55 would help businesses to invest in North Wales and improve links with the West Midlands and North West of England."
A spokeswoman for Traffic Wales said: "At around 6pm last night a major failure occurred in the safety critical control systems at the A55 Conwy tunnel, affecting the tunnel's ventilation system, lane signals, STOP gantry signage, and several monitoring and alarm systems inside the tunnel.
"In accordance with legislation and operational procedures the tunnel was immediately closed."
She added: "Local diversions were put in place while engineers worked as quickly as possible to identify and resolve the issue and the tunnel was reopened at approximately 8.30pm.
"During that time additional resources were brought in and traffic which had been held on the tunnel approaches was escorted through the tunnel at low speed.
"Health and safety has to be our priority and we apologise for any inconvenience caused." "An investigation is now being carried out to determine why the system failed to prevent this happening again," said the spokeswoman.