Ken Skates, 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.