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£500m bid for SW road improvements

Friday, 5 July 2019 06:05

By Daniel Clark, Local Democracy Reporting Service

It includes a new bridge over the River Exe.

The Peninsula Transport Shadow Sub National Transport Body have agreed a list of nine schemes across Devon, Plymouth, Cornwall and Somerset, totalling £572.3m, to be submitted to the Department of Transport.

If funded, the schemes are expected to be delivered by the end of 2025.

They include bypassing for the villages of Camelford and Pilton, improvements to roundabouts in Plymouth, a new junction for the M5, and a potential new bridge crossing the River Exe as the bridge at Bridge Road is approaching the end of its serviceable life and requires renewal within 10 years

Six of the schemes are being promoted as part of the Major Road Network – a new programme that will see substantial amounts of new investment available for road enhancement schemes on the most important local authority roads.

They are improvements to the A382 between Drumbridges to Newton Abbot, improvements to the A374, A386 and A3064 corridor in Plymouth, a Camelford bypass for the A39 in Cornwall, upgrades to the A39/A361 between Roundswell to Bishop’s Tawton in North Devon, a new road to bypass the pinch point on the A361 in Glastonbury and improvements to the A379 Bridge Road in Exeter.

A further three schemes are being promoted as part of the Large Local Major schemes programme for schemes would either be too expensive for a local authority to fund or fall on Highways England roads. They are improvements to junction 28 of the M5 at Cullompton, the A38 Manadon Interchange Improvement Scheme in Plymouth, and the A39 Walton Ashcott Bypass.

Nigel Blackler, the technical lead for the Peninsula Transport Board told the committee that 15 per cent of the cost of the schemes would have to be found locally but the rest of the funding would be delivered by the Department of Transport through vehicle exercise duty they are collecting.

Cllr Geoff Brown, chairman of the committee, said: “All the schemes will have to be taken forward through the correct process and formal consultation so there is a long way down to the road to go yet.”

The committee also heard that Peninsula Transport were supporting the A38 – M5 Jct 22 Bristol Airport corridor scheme, which is being promoted by Western Gateway Shadow STB.

This cross-boundary scheme (North Somerset District Council and Somerset County Council) is expected to support growth South of Bristol and delivered improved access to Bristol Airport.

THE NINE SCHEMES THAT ARE BEING SUPPORTED

A382 Improvements

The A382 is a key link providing access to Newton Abbot from the A38, the Heathfield Industrial Estate and local market towns. A road widening scheme has been proposed that will see a new alignment provide additional capacity and improve journey times, resilience and reliability on the A382.

Planning permission has been granted for the A382 corridor scheme already, and the overall improvements would cost £43.5m and have a high benefit to cost ratio.

The scheme is the most advanced of any and is considered the top priority in the submission list.

A374 / A386 / A3064 Plymouth

The scheme will deliver targeted junction improvements at the Marsh Mills roundabout, the Cattedown roundabout, the Weston Mill junction and the Pennycomequick Roundabout, and including remodelling of existing layouts, replacement of any out-dated traffic signal infrastructure and provision of enhanced public transport priority, increasing the capacity of the route and reducing overall delays.

It would support the delivery of 26,000 new houses planned in the Joint Local Plan and would cost around £48m for the first phase of improvements. The benefit to cost ratio of the scheme is the highest of any of the schemes proposed.

A39 Atlantic Highway Camelford Bypass

The A39 Atlantic Highway is the main route from north Cornwall to west Devon serving a wider settlement population of over 100,000 and many popular tourist areas.

Currently the A39 through Camelford is constrained by a priority shuttle junction, traffic signals and, increasing traffic volumes, particularly over the summer months when traffic typically increases by 30 per cent.

The scheme would realign the A39 to the north of Camelford and have improvements relating to journey times, congestion and air quality.

It would costs around £43.4m but only has a low benefit to cost ratio

A39 / A361 Improvements

Improvements to the A39 and the A361 around Roundswell to Bishop’s Tawton would be made. It would increase capacity on the road and reduce congestion and facilitate the delivery of around 17,000 included in the Joint Local Plan.

The scheme would cost around £55m but again has a low benefit to cost ratio

A361 Glastonbury Bypass and Pilton

The scheme is to construct a new road, one lane in each direction plus foot / cycle way, to bypass the pinch point on the A361 at Chilkwell Street in Glastonbury and east of Glastonbury on the A361 in Pilton, which renowned for being the home of the Glastonbury Festival.

The scheme will improve the strategic route across the county making it fit for purpose in this area and cost around £20m.

A379 Corridor Improvements

The A379 carries 33,000 two-way daily vehicles and has several structures crossing the River Exe, but these structures, including the bridge at Bridge Road, are approaching the end of their serviceable life and require renewal within 10 years, the committee had been told.

The scheme would include the replacement of ageing structures on the A379, namely the bascule and swing bridges and the upgrade of the existing route to enable usage by abnormal loads.

The replacement of structures reaching the end of their serviceable life will prevent the likelihood of their failing and the resultant significant disruption on the A379 and potentially if there was a structural failure and closure of the route.

The scheme is in an early stage of inception and would cost around £45m

A38 Manadon Interchange Improvement Scheme

Manadon Interchange is a three level grade separated junction with a large signalised roundabout. The largest junction on the A38, it provides the main link between northern and central Plymouth. It already experiences congestion in the peak periods with traffic queuing back onto the A38, increasing road safety risk and causing traffic flow breakdown.

Due to its location in the geographical heart of the city, the junction is a major constraint upon future growth across the city.

The scheme, which could cost £107m, will incorporate changes to the existing junction layout alongside localised widening to increase capacity at this major junction, in order to improve journey times and reliability, reduce congestion and improve safety.

It includes an additional eastbound off-slip lane from the A38, an additional northbound lane on the A386 from Manadon to Boniface Lane, two lanes northbound on the A386 flyover and northbound exit from Manadon, and additional lane on A386 southbound slip to Manadon, A38 westbound off-slip at Manadon widened to three lanes, A38 (section of) widened to three lanes between Manadon and Forder Valley eastbound and westbound and widened and signalised southbound exit slip onto Outland Rd.

M5 Junction 28 Improvements

The M5 Junction 28 is a simple dumbbell junction with a 6-arm roundabout on the western side and a recently signalised junction to the east. The limited capacity causes congestion in the morning peak out of Cullompton and surveys carried out at the junction show that queuing can extend up to 500m along Station Road in the morning and queuing in the evening also occurs as the commuting traffic tries to get back home.

Options are currently being investigated as to the nature of the scheme which could be an improvement to the existing junction, a new bridge with south-facing slip roads or a completely new junction which would result in closing the existing Junction 28.

The indicative scheme cost is around £120m but has a very high benefit to cost ratio,

A39 Walton Ashcott Bypass

The scheme is to construct a new road, one lane in each direction plus foot / cycle way, to bypass the villages of Walton and Ashcott. It will be approximately 6.5km long and connect from a point to the east of Ashcott to a point west of Walton, potentially on the edge of the Street urban area and will remove approximately 95 per cent of the traffic from the villages.

£90m is the indicative scheme cost and will remove most of the traffic from the affected communities and provide a faster, more reliable route across Somerset.

The schemes will now be submitted to the Department for Transport who will subsequently decide which of the schemes, if any, they will chose to progress with and fund.

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