A64 YORK HOPGROVE ROUNDABOUT IMPROVEMENT

[6637]

Might it be better to do an offline bypass all the way from York to Malton, bypassing Hopgrove? Here's a quick map that I made of one possibility.

This would involve a greater length of new road, but has the advantages of: taking a lot of traffic away from the Hopgrove Roundabout area, bypassing Stamford Bridge, and potentially not having any at-grade junctions.

[wrinkly]

I seem to remember that about 10 years ago there was actually an official report on a possible grade-separated route or routes from Hopgrove to Malton and Malton to Scarborough (or at least to the start of the Seamer bypass). The report was online for a year or two.

[Chris5156]

Once it's done as far as Malton I would anticipate the summer traffic load to increase, as people take advantage of quicker journeys and fewer jams, and the case for the relatively easy build along the railway line on the flat valley floor past Sherburn to Seamer will be much stronger.

I'm not convinced that will be needed. About half the traffic on the A64 turns off either into Malton or north on the A169. I have very rarely seen any congestion on the A64 between Malton and Seamer – occasionally you get a queue behind slow-moving traffic but that isn't the same thing. Single carriageway by-passes of Rillington and Sherburn designed to facilitate overtaking opportunities should be perfectly sufficient. Unless capacity on the approach to Scarborough is addressed – the road between Seamer and Scab really struggles at busy times – then dualling the road will have little impact on journey times, it will just speed people towards the back of the queue quicker.

Yes, this is a very good point, though on further thought, traffic levels are only half the story.

Scarborough has always agitated for the dual carriageway to continue to its doorstep - the traffic demand may suggest that dualling need only go as far as Malton, but there is political and cultural prestige at stake for Yorkshire's biggest coastal resort (and all the other bits of the coast nearby) which is heavily dependent on good transport links, and which considers itself at a serious disadvantage compared to other seaside towns because it takes so long to get there. That political demand will only get stronger when the end of the expressway is brought 15 miles closer than at present. And when the start-stop queues on the York to Malton stretch are eliminated, journeys to the coast will become easier and traffic will go up - I expect there is a certain amount of suppressed demand in summer months, and I know anecdotally that lots of people find different routes (like over the moors via Fridaythorpe and Wetwang) who are only doing so to avoid the traffic on the A64. That increase will probably not make a dual carriageway absolutely necessary on its own but it will strengthen the existic political argument.

The case is not as clear-cut for Malton to Scarborough as it is from York to Malton, but I'd say that once the road is dualled to the end of the Malton Bypass, it's conceivable that a political case could be built up for it to continue as far as Staxton where the A1039 splits off, taking with it a decent share of the traffic for Filey and Bridlington. If I were in charge I'd build a cross-link between the A64 at Seamer and the A165, to better distribute traffic approaching Scarborough, and make some improvements to the A1039 to accommodate the likely increase in the number of people using the A64-A1039-A165 route to Bridlington. That way the dualling project would serve a large section of the coastline, including two resorts instead of one. Far less likely and useful roads have been built on far shakier cases than that.

[NICK 647063]

Just reading one of the local news sites it's announced that the options taken forward are all the dualling ones and all to be the full length from Hopgrove to Barton Hill, so it would seem with a massive amount of effort from local MP's they have managed to change the project from a GSJ to dualling, which is certainly the best value for money!

The time scale states a consultation will take place next year to discuss the route options and if all goes to plan it could be open in 2023, this will of course leave an issue between crambeck and Malton but I think some focus will be placed on that stretch especially given the recent death toll.

As for Malton to Scarborough I think once York to Malton is completed we will notice a massive increase of traffic as so many people will reroute back onto the A64, Rillington badly needs a bypass and also has a poor accident record with 4 people getting killed in a single accident last July, the story of the A64 is a very slow one of little progress with the last major investment back in the 70's in the York and Malton bypasses, hopefully we are now seeing progress, it may not be the grand plans of full dualling we had in the 90's but it's more targeted and certainly will be dualling where needed.

[wrinkly]

Various Yorkshire media are today reporting the launch of a new campaign to get the A64 dualled between York and Malton. It's called the A64 Growth Partnership. I've found this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3nRO_txnyU

There was an item on BBC Look North (Leeds) at lunchtime in which the commentary claimed that the A64 was opened in 1969! It correctly said that there is dual carriageway from the A1(M) to Hopgrove Roundabout but an on-screen diagram showed that as being where the A64/A166/A1079 junction is.

If you scroll down this to near the bottom there's an audio about the dangers of crossing the road at Crambeck:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-engla ... s-40519245

[AndrewH]

Look North spent near enough the top 10 mins talking about this tonight.

I expect there is suppressed demand, everyone from Leeds and West Yorks knows that if you don't decide to go to the east coast early enough, then by the tune you set off the queues will have backed up and by the time you get there it will be hardly worth it.

Yet besides a queue at the top of the M61, you can get to Blackpool quicker and much easier all on Motorways.

[wrinkly]

Look North spent near enough the top 10 mins talking about this tonight.

Just watched it on catchup. At least they corrected the Hopgrove graphic between lunch and evening.

[NICK 647063]

I saw a quick version on bbc local news this morning but sadly missed tonight's, seems a real focus on this now which is what has been needed for years, it seems these lot will not let it rest which will be fantastic as they will put real pressure on to dual the A64.....maybe soon I can post an A64 dualling thread!

[JLRacerZz]

it really good to see a lot more progress on the A64 since its a road i have used alot to get Scarborough during the holiday season well last sunday i was on the A64 and it was 8PM in the evening and it was still a 10 MPH crawl from Barton hill to Hopgrove roundabout so its finally about dam time

[Roadmeister17]

Promises, promises about A64 action...To quote Captain Mainwaring, " kind words butter no parsnips " .When are we actually going to see some ACTION on A64 dualling ? Believe it or not, the Tadcaster to York and Whitwell-on-the-hill sections of dual carriageway were built back in the NINETEEN THIRTIES ! Apart from the 1976 York and 1978 Tadcaster and Malton bypasses, there has been no further dualling since. This is truly pathetic and would not be tolerated nearer London, which is awash with expensive infrastructure projects. We need no more surveys or inquiries, DUAL THE A 64 N0W ! Roadmeister17.

[punyXpress]

Agree with your sentiment, but surely Malton by-pass was a little later?

[Roadmeister17]

The Tadcaster and Malton bypasses both opened in 1978. There was an expectation at the time that the remaining single-carriageway sections of A64 would be dualled shortly afterwards...

[Roadmeister17]

The Tadcaster and Malton bypasses both opened in 1978. There was an expectation at the time that the remaining single-carriageway sections of A64 would be dualled shortly afterwards...

[NICK 647063]

It's absolutely shocking that all these years after the Malton bypass opened we are still waiting to complete the dual carriageway, back then it was proposed when traffic was far less, due to zero progress since then traffic has increased dramatically and sadly many many lives have been wasted and lost on this road! It looks finally like some progress is happening for the Malton to York section but we should not have to fight for it like this, it should have been built already.

[jackal]

"Changes unveiled for notorious A64 junction at Barton Hill"

Construction is due to start in November, and is separate from the longer term dualling scheme on the adjacent section.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/1554657 ... _junction/

[NICK 647063]

Yes I noticed that announcement yesterday too, Barton Hill crossroads has been highlighted for many years and for the last 3 or 4 this scheme has been promised, although any improvement is welcome I don't really like classing this as an improvement!

All they are doing is turning a crossroads into a staggered junction on a dual carriageway both of which I would say are dangerous, for years a bridge has been called for plenty of space for it but sadly this is the best we can get.

I do think it pretty short sighted as progress is ongoing to prepare the first dualling scheme which is part of the ambition to get the York to Malton section dualled, when that is completed traffic flows on this section of dual carriageway will likely increase quite a bit which will make any junction harder to use safely.

[Stevie D]

"Changes unveiled for notorious A64 junction at Barton Hill"

Construction is due to start in November, and is separate from the longer term dualling scheme on the adjacent section.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/1554657 ... _junction/

What a pointless waste of time, money and effort. Moving the junction away from the blind crest and improving the turning zone in the central reservation will make it slightly less dangerous, but it's still going to be awful. It needs to be a GSJ. With an upgrade to the A64 now looking likely, the road is only going to get busier, which will just expose how poor and unfit for purpose this "upgrade" is.

[jgharston]

They wouldn't have this problem if they hadn't moved Barton Lane in the first place, creating the cross roads.

[JLRacerZz]

Do you guys think the A64 dulling is going to be mostly offline or online to the current A64? and I agree they should just make Barton crossroads a full GSJ there wasting time and money they should be future proofing not just put a plaster on it

[jackal]

Either all online or a mixture. Here are the dualling options from the feasibility study:

Option A Option A utilises the existing alignment of the A64 as far as possible to reduce cost and environmental impact. This option includes on-line dualling of existing single carriageway from a point 500m north of Hopgrove Roundabout to Jinnah Restaurant.

Option B A combination of online widening designed as a partial route upgrade. It
consists of on-line dualling of the existing single carriageway from a point 500m
north of Hopgrove Roundabout to a new roundabout at Towthorpe Moor Lane.

Option C On-line dualling from a point 500m north of Hopgrove Roundabout for
approximately 1.8km, then offline dual carriageway improvement to the
northwest of the existing alignment, re-joining the existing A64 500m south
of the Jinnah Restaurant.

Option D On-line dualling from a point 500m north of Hopgrove Roundabout for
approximately 1.8km, then offline dual carriageway improvement to the
northwest of the existing alignment, then crossing to east of the existing
alignment to re-join the existing A64 500m south of the Jinnah Restaurant.