As part of the A303 Stonehenge tunnel project, National Highways and SSEN will be closing the A360 for a prolonged period.
a presentation followed by a Q&A session
Minutes:
The Board received a presentation from Ken Marshall, Project Manager on the National Highways A303 Tunnels Team.
The presentation touched on reasons for the planned works for the A303 project, which included improvements to congestion, delayed journey time and rat running, leading to low productivity.
The A303 ran through the middle of a World Heritage Site, part of the management plan would like to see the road gone from the side of Stonehenge. In addition, Winterbourne Stoke village was currently cut in half by the A303, so the planned improvements would provide better quality of life for the villages that were currently impacted by the rat runs going through them.
The A303 was the largest road down to the southwest, used by vast amounts of traffic travelling to tourist locations. Speeding up journeys would boost the local economy and improve journeys.
Preliminary works were due to start in April 2024, taking approximately 1 year. A timeline of works was included within the presentation slides.
The A360 closure:
• Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) would be carrying out essential works along the A360 to install high voltage cables to provide a power supply to a construction compound.
• Temporary A360 closure from Longbarrow junction south towards The Avenue roundabout from mid-April to mid-July 2024
• The A360 would remain open to residents and businesses
• Diversion route (via A345) and temporary weight limits; signage to inform road users
• Information website managed by SSEN would go live ahead of start of the works
• Community engagement communications, including letter drops, face-to-face meetings, and a central information/complaints line.
Public Information Events would take place on the following dates:
The following questions and comments were then received:
· How long would the A360 be closed for?
Answer: For 3 to 4 months.
· What method would be used to make the tunnel?
Answer: A giant bore machine.
· If you had been able to get on with the project what would the cost have been as to the cost now after a judicial review?
Answer: I do not have the data for that. We were due on site in 2021, that was delayed to 2023. The cost of the entire scheme was £1.7b.
· What monitoring would be undertaken to track the other routes people were using during the closure?
Answer: Traffic modelling was based on the flows normally seen. A large amount of traffic from the Devizes area would divert to the A342, some difficulty would be that the local residents who know the area would use other routes.
· If the alternative routes people use become damaged, who would pay to repair them?
Answer: The repair costs for damage to other roads would be incurred by us.
A copy of the presentation slides are attached to these minutes.