Public consultations and preferred route announcements

[jackal]

I compiled this handy list of public consultations and preferred route announcements for the remainder of 2016 as per the Highways England scheme pages. It excludes sub-£50m schemes and smart motorway schemes. (Note: Highways England often call public consultations 'have your say' on the scheme pages for some reason.)

A1 Northumberland - £290m – Have your say autumn/winter 2016
A27 Chichester – £100m-£250m – Preferred route announcement late 2016
A30 Carland Cross to Chiverton – £100m-£250m – Public consultation until 25 Nov
A38 Derby Junctions - £TBA – Preferred route announcment December 2016
A47 Corridor Improvement Programme - £300m – December 2015-December 2016 development of options [presumably concludes with public consultation]
A5036 Port of Liverpool Access – £TBC – Have your say end 2016
M25 Junction 10 to A3 Wisley Interchange [sic] - £100m-£250m – Have your say late 2016 to early 2017
M25 Junction 28 Improvements - £50m-£100m – ‘ask for you opinion’ [sic] late 2016/early 2017
M42 Junction 6 Improvement - £250m-£500m (!) - public consultation December 2016
M54 to M6/M6 (Toll) Link Road - £TBC – preferred route announcement ‘shortly’

Even with a little bit of slippage there should be quite a few big announcements over the next couple of months.

[Iain]

Lower Thames Crossing decision also due this year. I reckon a raft of deferrals may be coming our way as the public accounts look far from healthy and a "smooth" Brexit will be seen as a higher priority for the government.

[wrinkly]

Thanks to Jackal for a very useful compilation.

Maybe explicit deferrals won't be necessary. The ordinary processes of design and authorisation will probably introduce bigger delays than they're allowing for. Their assumptions on timescales seem heroic.

[roadtester]

Thanks very much for the list.

Just wondering about the terminology in the case of the A38 - is there really a "preferred route" as such to be decided/announced? I thought the route remains as it is today but with GSJs, if you see what I mean.

[wrinkly]

Thanks very much for the list.

Just wondering about the terminology in the case of the A38 - is there really a "preferred route" as such to be decided/announced? I thought the route remains as it is today but with GSJs, if you see what I mean.

Preferred route is a standard terminlogy that they always use even in cases where it might not seem very appropriate.

[jackal]

Lower Thames Crossing decision also due this year.

So it is. For some reason this doesn't seem to have a regular scheme page (though there's the consultation page of course).

I reckon a raft of deferrals may be coming our way as the public accounts look far from healthy and a "smooth" Brexit will be seen as a higher priority for the government.

There's not really any way to spend billions directly on Brexit so I don't think it's really a competitor in that respect. Borrowing costs remain extremely low so the government are not really forced into cuts, and will want to avoid a further hit to economic activity from reduced infrastructure spending.

[wrinkly]

Not in the above list but A27 East of Lewes £75M consultation now open:

https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... sult_view/

Seems to be single carriageway except at some flat junction improvements, and the A22 duplex at Polegate where a new alignment is avoided, so it's an astonishing amount of money.

Th exhibition panels link seems broken but the brochure link works.

[Fluid Dynamics]

Not in the above list but A27 East of Lewes £75M consultation now open:

https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... sult_view/

Seems to be single carriageway except at some flat junction improvements, and the A22 duplex at Polegate where a new alignment is avoided, so it's an astonishing amount of money.

Th exhibition panels link seems broken but the brochure link works.

That's unbelievably poor, in the era of much heralded 'expressways we get a single carriageway bypass (with at grade junctions) of Selmeston, at grade improvements of other junctions and dualling the A22/A24 Polgate Multiplex rather than plugging a new Wilmington bypass into the large GSJ ready roundabout on the Polgate bypass. Based on disruption versus benefit, I'd rather see the money saved until the proper dual GSJ improvement between the A26 and A22 is affordable. This is just wasted money.

[jackal]

Not in the above list but A27 East of Lewes £75M consultation now open:

https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... sult_view/

Seems to be single carriageway except at some flat junction improvements, and the A22 duplex at Polegate where a new alignment is avoided, so it's an astonishing amount of money.

Indeed. I had a general sense of the scale of works so didn't even check the scheme page, assuming it to be below £50m.

[jackal]

The consultations have started rolling in and can be seen here: https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/

[jackal]

Of the above list we are still waiting for the following:

A27 Chichester – £100m-£250m – Preferred route announcement late 2016
A38 Derby Junctions - £TBA – Preferred route announcment December 2016
A47 Corridor Improvement Programme - £300m – December 2015-December 2016 development of options
A5036 Port of Liverpool Access – £TBC – Have your say end 2016
M54 to M6/M6 (Toll) Link Road - £TBC – Preferred route announcement ‘shortly’

[jackal]

3 consultations are opening on 16 January:

A5036 Port of Liverpool Access
M25 Junction 25
M56 New Junction 11a

HE indicate that there will also be consultations in 'early 2017' for the following:

A303 Stonehenge
A358 Taunton to Southfields
A303 Sparkford to Ilchester
M2 Junction 5
A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbert
A47 Corridor Improvement Programme
M62/M606 Chain Bar Interchange

Still no word on the overdue PRAs for the A27 Chichester, A38 Derby, M54 to M6/M6 (Toll), and Lower Thames Crossing.

[JonB2028]

Whilst a trunk road, the consultation for A120 Braintree to A12, is being done by Essex CC and is anticipated to start Tuesday 17th Jan

http://a120essex.co.uk/consultation-dates-announced/

[roadtester]

3 consultations are opening on 16 January:

A5036 Port of Liverpool Access
M25 Junction 25
M56 New Junction 11a

HE indicate that there will also be consultations in 'early 2017' for the following:

A303 Stonehenge
A358 Taunton to Southfields
A303 Sparkford to Ilchester
M2 Junction 5
A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbert
A47 Corridor Improvement Programme
M62/M606 Chain Bar Interchange

Still no word on the overdue PRAs for the A27 Chichester, A38 Derby, M54 to M6/M6 (Toll), and Lower Thames Crossing.

The government wants Stonehenge to go ahead, says the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01 ... rs-delays/

[wrinkly]

DfT press release on upcoming consultations in the east of England:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/11-b ... st-economy

[jackal]

I suppose it does make sense to unbundle the A47 Corridor Improvement Programme into six separate schemes for the purposes of consultation. But it can't hurt that that means they can claim eight schemes rather than three!

[JonB2028]

DfT press release on upcoming consultations in the east of England:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/11-b ... st-economy

All that lot being built for £1.1bn? Not a chance. Get ready for schemes not being what we might want or being phased, pushed into RIS2...

[jackal]

Six of those eight are small to mid-sized schemes with costings from the 2015 A47/A12 feasibility study:

Wansford to Sutton £61-86m
Guyhirn £11-16m
North Tuddenham to Easton £110-155m
Thickhorn £67-103m
Blofield to North Burlingham £54-80m
A12 Roundabouts (including Vauxhall) £30-44m (on the high side as includes Great Yarmouth Station improvement, which has been dropped)

Using the midpoints of the ranges comes to almost exactly £400m, though that may well be an overestimate - the scheme page says £300m.

A12 Chelmsford to A120 is £100-£250m according to its scheme page.

That leaves £450m-£700m for A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbert, which would be a truly eye watering £50-£78m per mile. A D2 with a couple of dumbbells or other simple GSJs would usually cost closer to half that.

The high overall budget actually makes me think Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet might be higher spec than anticipated. Maybe it will be built as or future proofed for D3. It could also be that a more complex design is planned for Black Cat, though that would be a little surprising given the possible A1(M) bypass of the site.

tl;dr £1.1bn is more than enough for these schemes.

[KeithW]

That leaves £450m-£700m for A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbert, which would be a truly eye watering £50-£78m per mile. A D2 with a couple of dumbbells or other simple GSJs would usually cost closer to half that.

Well it would include new bridges over both the Great Ouse, Barton Road and the East Coast Main Line and there are the electricity pylons from Little Barford power station. Additionally I would expect them to replace the roundabout at Caxton Gibbet with a GSJ so it may be a little more expensive than that and it has been said that but I take your point. As I recall the 5 miles of dualled A428 from Hardwick to Caxton Gibbet cost around £10 million per mile although I believe the cost of the GSJ at Cambourne was met by the developers.

[wrinkly]

WAG press release:

http://gov.wales/newsroom/transport/201 ... c/?lang=en

Consultation on the Deeside Corridor project will begin on the 13 March and last 12 weeks. The project will look to address congestion and safety issues between Queensferry and Northop and gather views on two proposed options, both of which would represent an investment of over £200 million.

One option is a package of improvements on the existing A55/A494, while the second would see a series of improvements over Flintshire Bridge along the A548 and a new link to the A55 at Northop.

Economy Secretary Ken Skates said:

“The issues on this stretch of road are well documented and I’m delighted we are taking decisive action to tackle the problem.

“The road is consistently carrying more traffic than it was designed to do and this is causing regular congestions issues. There is clear need for the road to be upgraded and brought up to modern standards.

“Both options in this consultation will deliver a safer, more sustainable, better connected road, with improved capacity, reliability and journey times. And we must achieve all of this whilst keeping the impact on local residents, the landscape, air quality, biodiversity and pollution, to a minimum.

“This is a significant local issue and I’d invite anyone with a view to contribute to this consultation once it launches in March so that all evidence and opinion can be considered.

“I will then be making a decision to ensure a programme of improvement that delivers the very best solution for North Wales.”