Plans for link road spiral footbridge

It's expected to cost around £2.5m

Plans for a new spiral footbridge over the North Devon Link Road have officially been submitted.

The spiralling bridge would allow the safe crossing of pedestrians and cyclists from Landkey village and a proposed new housing development at Westacott.

It is the final stage of improvements for the North Devon Link Road that require planning permission, after Devon County Council planners in 2019 gave the go ahead for overall scheme to improve the A361 and for an underpass at Bishop’s Tawton.

As the road is set to be widened at Landkey and a new roundabout installed, it would make it harder for residents of Landkey to cross the road, and it was agreed that a segregated facility close to Landkey Junction to facilitate the safe crossing of pedestrians was required.

Devon County Council has now submitted the planning application for the new bridge, which will incorporate spiral ramps to both the North and South, which will typically consist of a combination of circular and straight ramp sections, to create a spiralling ramp from deck level down to the existing ground level.

Explaining the scheme, a statement with the planning application said: “Landkey junction is currently an uncontrolled T-junction, with plans approved to upgrade this to a roundabout, which will also provide access to the Westacott allocation.

“The approved plan widens the road in this location and it will increase the existing levels of severance caused by the NDLR. It will also raise safety concerns, particularly in the context of the expected rise in demand, associated with pedestrians and cyclists crossing this 60-mph road, at grade.

“With this in mind, it is considered that a segregated crossing is required to provide pedestrians and cyclists a safe crossing.”

The statement says that a signalised crossing was ruled out as this would disrupt the flow of traffic on the route and would pose a safety hazard, the watercourse levels made the problems of an underpass insurmountable, and that an alternative footpath does not link with direct roads to Landkey and is not suitable for cyclists for those with mobility impairments.

It adds: “It was concluded that the only option for providing a safe crossing for pedestrians and cyclists in this location was a segregated crossing and that of the potential options for a segregated crossing, due to constraints, an overbridge was the only viable one to progress.

“Consequently, the preferred option taken forward to this planning application is a bridge with spiral ramps landing at the existing the footpaths to the north and south.”

The proposed bridge – which would offer a similar link to the footbridge at Roundswell – is expected to cost in the region of £2.5m.

Devon County Council’s development management committee will determine the fate of the application at a later date.

Plans already agreed for the North Devon Link Road included widening a 7.5km stretch (just under five miles) of the A361 North Devon Link Road.

The stretch of carriageway in the plans runs from the Portmore roundabout in Barnstaple to Filleigh Cutting near South Molton.

The main work is slated to start in November 2020, with major construction work would likely begin in 2021, and last for around two years.