THE campaign for a bypass for Beanacre is hotting up in the aftermath of an accident that claimed the life of a Trowbridge man.

Brian Johnson, 62, died on December 23 after being involved in a three-car smash on the A350 near Melksham three weeks earlier, nearly three years after campaigners warned it was only a matter of time before someone was killed.

In 2001, campaigner Mel Austin said: "A bypass is the final solution, but are we going to wait until someone is killed again before something is done?"

He said this week: "I'm terribly sorry that there has been a fatality. It is a shame it has to come to that before anyone realises how dangerous this road is.

"I don't think people who don't live here or drive here realise quite how dangerous it is."

Gary Jardine, project leader for the Melksham Eastern Bypass Campaign, has organised a series of protests and a petition calling for something to be done about a stretch of road he describes as 'intrinsically unsafe'.

He said: "The proposal for a bypass has been discussed as far back as 1965 and still nothing has materialised."

The A350 is one of the principle routes into and out of the district and the improvement of the A350 transport corridor is identified in local transport plans as being vital for the continued economic, environmental and social regeneration of the area.

Mr Jardine said: "Bearing all that in mind, not to mention all the fatalities and injuries that have taken place over the years, how is it that still nothing has been done?"

In the wake of her husband's

death, Brenda Johnson has joined in the calls for a relief road to try and

prevent other families going through the same heartbreak as hers. She said: "Before going to work, Brian would often say there had been another accident at Beanacre. Residents deserve a bypass because it is an awful road."

Mr Austin said a steady increase in the volume of traffic using the road has also led to structural damage to houses along it.

The campaigners fear that the volume of traffic along the road is set to increase even further, leading to more and more problems.

Plans to develop the former GEC site in Melksham and the proposal by Chippenham company Westinghouse Brakes to set up a base in Bowerhill are both expected to lead to more traffic along the road.

Wiltshire County Council has warned that bidding for a bypass could take several years and that they would then have to secure Government funding.

Mr Jardine said: "Wiltshire County Council records indicate that the number of vehicles using this road on average is 22,000 a day and increasing yearly by five per cent, so if we have to wait until 2016 this road will be gridlock."

Beanacre residents took part in a protest in October and another demonstration is planned on January 31.

Mr Jardine has written to north Wiltshire MP Michael Ancram to call for his support for the campaign.