"It should have been a duel carriageway since day one" said one councillor after a report calls for improvements to a major road near Evesham. 

The report, published by Midlands Connect, wants to see changes made to 17 roads across the region including the A46 Evesham bypass. 

It says improving the A46 Evesham bypass, which sits to the east of the town, would reduce the number of crashes, which currently causes traffic to be diverted onto town centre roads.

John Clatworthy, Evesham Town Council councillor, said: "It should have been a dual carriageway since day one. 

"That road is always a bottleneck at any time of the day. 

"I was not around at the time, but lots of people I talk to share the same sentiment. 

"Once you turn right towards Alcester it becomes a dual carriageway and traffic flows.

"However, coming from Alcester and turning left at the same roundabout it becomes a single carriageway and leads to major holdups all the way to the Cheltenham Road roundabout by Evesham Football Club.

"Any plans to widen or improve the road would be welcomed, obviously alterations would cause traffic problems as well but it would be worth the advantage.

"You only need one accident anywhere on that road for diversions to go through Evesham and that causes major problems for our town."

Midlands Connect's report sais improvements would also “reduce congestion and improve journey time reliability”, as well as giving “better connectivity to expanding employment sites such as Vale Industrial Park”.

The report also identifies delays at roundabouts as a problem and said: “Investment needs to focus on ensuring a consistency of road standard across the entire corridor, allowing the wider A46 corridor to provide a viable alternative to other parts of the Strategic Road Network (A42/M42/M6).

Nigel Huddleston, MP for Droitwich and Evesham said: "I receive a lot of correspondence about the A46 from constituents and am aware of the challenges from personal experience too. 

"I frequently engage with National Highways, who are responsible for the A46, and recently wrote to the then Road's Minister explaining that I very much hope Worcestershire is not left behind when Roads Investment Period 3 funds are allocated. 

"Improvements need to be made to alleviate congestion and prevent further accidents. 

"My constituents can rest assured that I will keep pursuing this as a matter of great urgency."