Presentation on Highways England’s proposals to improve the A303 past Stonehenge between Amesbury and Berwick Down. The scheme is part of the government’s strategy to upgrade the A303/A358 route to a continuous dual carriageway to improve connectivity between the South East and the South West of England. Opportunity to ask questions afterwards.
Minutes:
The Board received a presentation from Jeremy Damrel – Project Director for the Technical Partner of the scheme, on Highways England’s proposals to improve the A303 past Stonehenge between Amesbury and Berwick Down.
The scheme was part of the government’s strategy to upgrade the A303/A358 route to a continuous dual carriageway to improve connectivity between the South East and the South West of England.
There were 3 main schemes that were moving forward now, leaving 5 smaller schemes to be picked up in the coming years. As the A303 passes Stonehenge, it impacts so heavily on the World Heritage Site. The Stonehenge circle was one of 600 ancient monuments on that site.
Four principle objectives
Culture and heritage
Environment and community
Transport
Economic growth
Key elements of the proposed scheme
· West to east – a bypass from Winterbourne Stoke section
· Further along is the Longbarrow junction – to be moved 500m to the west of existing junction.
· Into the site – There will be a drop in to a cutting before entering a 3k tunnel.
· Out on eastern site there is the Countess junction. It will be separated, if you are on the main road you can drive through, if you wish to exit or join you take a slip road.
· The removed chalk would be used to re-landscape the area next to the scheme. This is a practical and environmentally friendly way to remove the chalk.
· Grassed bridges with some level of planting. The bridges would carry byways for non-motorized users.
· The River Till viaduct would be the most intrusive part of the scheme.
Within the consultation booklet there are a number of options that we would like to hear people’s thoughts on.
There were currently two options for the tunnel, one would be to have ventilation holes.
The tunnels were a twin bore design, with two tunnels. If one had to close, then the other could be switched to accept two-way traffic to enable movement to continue.
To the east around Countess roundabout, the road would be elevated with separated different kinds of road user.
To the south of the A303 2 small roads would be closed. Forming a new connection from those two roads, making it a safer connection.
A public consultation was running from 8 February to 23rd April.
There would also be a series of events to share information and answer questions. There would also be virtual reality tablets to help the visualization, and attendance from specialist officers.
We are open for questions via phone or online. Feedback was very much welcomed.
Questions and comments:
· West Tisbury PC – lots of letters in the Salisbury Journal about draining the aqueduct? Answer: Our expectation is that we will not have any impact on the ground water, but we need to make sure of that. We have done some investigations, but to back that up we will carry out some tests to see how the water will move.
· There have not been any costings of the alternative to have the portals outside of the site. When you were asked what the cost would be to extend the tunnel, you did not cost it. The tunnel is at least 1.8miles long. Answer: The tunnel we have in our scheme is 3k long with canopies at each end so about 3.5k long. There was a practical point – we would need to move our connections as they would not be able to connect with the tunnel. Then you would have practicalities with the land scape. £1.6billion for the overall cost. If we extended the tunnel that could add another half a billion. We would welcome your views within the consultation process. At the option stage we presented options that we felt we could build. The longer tunnel option was one that we did not feel we could build. When the planning application is submitted in the autumn that will include a consultation report on all comments raised, and we have to respond to all of the points raised.
· How will I get on to the A360 from A303, to Shrewton and then Devizes? Answer: Its roughly the same, the slip road will be a further 500 m along.
· Will these proposals be set in concrete, as this plan was first raised over 40 years ago? Answer: We will submit a planning proposal, that will go through a statutory process and then on to the Secretary of State.
· What disruption would be involved and for how long? Answer: We are keen to minimize the disruption as much as possible. We would not divert people off the A303, but we will have a number of overnight diversions or at times of least disruption. There may be slow moving traffic as a result, but our intention is to maintain traffic at its existing rate. The construction programme, main works start 2021 and finish in 2026. Within that period, we want to identify pieces of that scheme we can do sooner.
· Woodford valley flood working group had requested information on the number of properties that had been flooding over previous years. Would there be any funding available for flooding issues? Answer: I am not aware of that, it may be something Highways England were doing separately, but not part of this scheme. They did have pots of funds available for other schemes, if you email me I will find out if there is a way for you to be better informed.
· How do you intend to prevent wildlife from falling off the steep sides? Answer: We will need to use fencing, we will meet the National trust to discuss this with them.
· Is there any question of a diversion onto B3089? Answer: We are seeking to make the road fast moving to discourage the rat running. Whilst we are building we are looking to maintain the flow of traffic. We will need to look at the detailed methodology to look at those kinds of risks.
· When the road turns towards Taunton the traffic will back up at that junction. Answer: Highways England is progressing a scheme to duel the A358.
· What about areas such as Chicklade where it is single track, will they all be dueled at the same time? Answer: We highlighted 8 points on the road where it is broken. The Stonehenge scheme is to take the longest as it’s the largest scheme. The completion dates for Sparksford will be completed before the main scheme. We have until 2029 to have completed the remaining 5 smaller schemes. It is fair to say that until all the links in the chain are fixed the scheme is not fully functional, but at the same time we cannot carry out all of the schemes at once.
· During work on the schemes, there will be problems for a lot of the parishes that feed off from the A303. Answer: We will need to look at that in the interim.
· Will you be having motorway style roundabouts all the way to Taunton? Answer: Making sure the road works effectively and efficiently, each scheme is looked at individually on its own merits. No reason the same logic would not apply to all schemes.
· When would you be discussing the plans for the other schemes like Chicklade? Answer: Those conversations have already started, a public consultation last summer looked at a number of route strategies, that is being negotiated with the department of transport, that was expected to be concluded in 2019. Take a look at the Highways England website and the route strategies for the information on ways in, for people to join the conversation.
· Would the A303 stay open whilst engineering takes place? Answer: The tunnel does go under at the eastern end.
· Could you consider a hoarding on the A303 to obscure Stonehenge to maximise the speed of the traffic on the passing road. Answer: That is an interesting idea.
· Over the years Thruxton have built up a barrier so you cannot see race track, and the traffic flow past the site has improved. Answer: That is a very valid point.
· You are currently surveying the water levels in the area. Where will your water be pumped to? Answer: I am not sure why they are in your area carrying out surveying works. We are not impacting to any marked degree the surface ground water. The scheme does not put extra water in to the river network. When it rains the water would be channeled to reed beds and over time go back in to the land.
· Green bridges are they open for farm traffic? Answer: The one on the line of the A360 is, some yes but not sure if all of them do.
· Fire risk has not been mentioned, what will be in hand for the haulage of straw as this is the only route. Answer: The tunnel has a set of rigorous safety standards it has to comply with. We are working with police and fire services, we have a working group, and we speak regularly with the road haulage associations.
· How high is the viaduct to be? Answer: Not sure exactly, but around 10m.
· As this is a 3k long tunnel are we going to see the same issues the dartford one being closed for 5hrs at a time? A – we have the twin bores so if an incident does happen then we would divert the traffic through the other one.
· Have you sorted out with wessex archeology probs with blickmead? Conversation has been had about blickmead, not with wessex archeology, but in discussion with archeology at that location and we are doing more investigations, we are not affecting the archeology at that site at present.
· We will be creating a cycle route which will enable cyclists to get from winterbourne stoke to Amesbury without going on the A303.
The Chairman thanked Jeremy from presenting this very informative information.