Nia Griffith MP, Keith Davies AM and Labour Community Councillors Steve Lloyd-Janes and Alan Blackley have been trying to find a solution to the problems encountered by the residents of Talycoed, just opposite the motorway junction in Hendy.
Following a series of site visits involving residents, organised by the MP and the AM, with County Council officers and Welsh Assembly officials, at last there seemed to be some progress, when the Welsh Assembly Officials, after previous reluctance, finally gave the go-ahead for the painting of a yellow keep clear boxes at the junction.
But local residents were alarmed and shocked when, as well as seeing yellow boxes painted in what they considered to be the wrong places, they now faced new lane restrictions on their journey towards Llanelli .
At a site meeting with Nia Griffith MP, residents and community councillors, Steve Lloyd Janes and Alan Blackley explained that on the recommendation of the Assembly Officials double white lines had been painted, separating the two south bound lanes of the A 4138 (the road to Llanelli) between Junction 48 and Talyclun estate, prohibiting drivers from Hendy from filtering into the inner lane as they had previously done. This was done in the interests of channelling traffic coming off the M4 west bound slip lane onto the south bound A 4138 road to Llanelli. The intended purpose of channellizing traffic in this way was to maximise the holding capacity of the dual south bound lanes at peak evening traffic periods and minimise queuing on the west bound hard shoulder of the M4 approach to J48.
Nia took up the complaints from residents about the yellow boxes their feeling that the new double white lines were forcing them to remain in the outer lane when they would have felt much safer and less exposed to oncoming traffic if they filtered into the inner lane.
Nia commented,
“I am very pleased to say that I have had a response from an officer in the County Council’s Highways department in which he confirms that the double white lines will be removed, and that officers will examine whether the yellow boxes are working. This is a step in the right direction, but we still need to find an effective solution to the original problem that drivers coming out of Talycoed have to dart between traffic as it is drawing up to the traffic lights and filter into the motorway slip road. ”