, Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales:
First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to
everyone involved in the response to yesterday's Conwy tunnel
fire incident. This includes our emergency services, key
partners, and our agent—the North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent
(NMWTRA). Their swift and coordinated actions are a testament to
the strength of the planning, joint exercises, and operational
arrangements that we have developed together for the A55 and all
our tunnels.
A resilience planning exercise held a few months ago on the A55
at Conwy Tunnel between Welsh Government, NMWTRA, NW fire and
rescue service and other emergency service looked at this
scenario and has paid off as it was implemented yesterday to help
minimise damage. The close working with our partners
continues, with multi-agency meetings taking place as we deal
with the aftermath of the incident.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the members of the
public and A55 users for their patience and understanding during
the disruption. We fully recognise the significant impact that
incidents like this can have on communities, businesses, and
individuals across Wales. This was an emergency situation
and the tunnel had to be closed for the safety of all, and while
a diversion was in place I know this would have added to journey
time and caused disruption.
I am pleased, thanks to the tireless efforts of all involved, the
tunnel has partially reopened this morning. Traffic is now
flowing through the unaffected bore under contraflow
arrangements.
While this marks important progress in the last 24 hours, delays
are still likely as we continue the critical work of inspecting
and testing equipment in the affected tunnel bore. I encourage
all road users to allow extra time for their journeys and to
prepare appropriately—especially in this warm weather—by carrying
extra water and food.
Repair works are already being planned, and our teams are working
relentlessly to assess the damage and restore the tunnel to allow
it to reopen as soon as it is safe to do so. I will be visiting
the tunnels this weekend, but want to be clear, this phase will
take time. We will provide more information as the
assessments progress. Further tunnel closures or traffic
management measures may be necessary in the coming weeks for the
recovery phase and allow more permanent repairs to take
place.
We will continue to provide regular updates through our
operational communications, via Traffic Wales, to keep everyone
informed.
I'd like to thank everyone once again for their cooperation and
patience.
