A63 Clive Sullivan Way-Castle Street

[hessletom]

I've lived in the Hull area for 7 years but been around the area all my life and always wondered why the A63 was all GSJ (except for the Melton lights, now gone) except for the disaster of Castle Street which ridiculously was never touched. I mean why go to the expense and not complete the job. But then the same could be said for so many jobs, and the frustrating thing is work commencement keeps going back and back and back. And after that across Myton Bridge there is the Garrison road roundabout in urgent need of a GSJ whereas the next junction up is GSJ as part of the Hedon Road improvements which partly work. Still too many roundabouts for my liking, but arguably traffic amounts are lighter the further on past Hull you get. Anyone else get frustrated with this lack of joined up thinking and approach. With the rid of two roundabouts could significantly improve access to Hull. You might ask why would anyone want to do that? But it still is a decent port carrying lots of traffic.

[Debaser]

Well there's the little matter that disturbing the dead is often more trouble than disturbing the living.

[stu531]

It's symptomatic of lots of parts of our road network. It's as if the general thinking is, get the job 80% done and the rest doesn't matter. I'd say the same is true of the M65, the M62/M621 junction and probably the M60/M62/M66 junction too. An initial better plan would have made things so much easier later.

I wonder in the case of Hull, whether the perception is that the hamburger at the end of Ferensway is a natural end to the M62/A63 route, and the rest of it is simply local traffic? (Which we know isn't, because of the port.)

On a similar note, didn't Garrison Road (over the bridge) used to be 3 lanes wide?

[Dazzler]

I spent my first year of university in Hull and lived almost adjacent to the Garrison Road bridge! It does all look like disjointed thinking but the only anomaly is why the Heddon Road GSJ isn't at grade as every other junction is at grade. Seems to be a bit unnecessary but clearly there was room to do it as it's offline from the old Heddon Road. Castle Street appears to be an older road, albeit much widened and relaigned over time, but would I be right in assuming there was a bridge where it crosses the former dock? I don't think it is practical to GSJ that stretch and to be fair most city centre traffic turns off at the Mytongate hamburger anyway. It is that junction itself which is comical, surely a good old roundabout would suffice.

[wrinkly]

I get the impression that not everyone in this thread is aware that there is a scheme for Castle Street. It reached the stage of a preferred route announcement just before last year's general election. I believe it's now in the group of schemes on which preparation is continuing with a possibility of being chosen for construction after 2015.

[Dazzler]

Well I stand corrected, it can be done. But to be fair anything's possible if the money's available, seems to be far more important than I remember!

[c2R]

Have some development consent order

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/556/made

[Chris Bertram]

Wow, some thread bump there!

[c2R]

Wow, some thread bump there!

Yeah, ten years from PRA to DCO being legislated...

[Debaser]

Wow, some thread bump there!

Yeah, ten years from PRA to DCO being legislated...

It's going to cost £355m and to all intents and purposes it's in the middle of a minefield (poor ground, flood prone, adjacent a cemetry and listed buildings and it separates the city centre from the riverside). Ten years is good going, especially since every design consultancy with an office in the north of England has probably had a look at trying to solve this problem over the past 30 years.

[Conekicker]

Wow, some thread bump there!

Yeah, ten years from PRA to DCO being legislated...

It's going to cost £355m and to all intents and purposes it's in the middle of a minefield (poor ground, flood prone, adjacent a cemetry and listed buildings and it separates the city centre from the riverside). Ten years is good going, especially since every design consultancy with an office in the north of England has probably had a look at trying to solve this problem over the past 30 years.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to demolish Hull? I mean, not that the place deserves flattening.





Much.

[delinquentwoody]

One of the minefield elements involves demolishing the former Earl de Grey pub (a listed building disused for many years) and rebuilding it 3 metres to the north.. the building's been completely covered in advertising hoarding for over ten years now as it's already in such a state of disrepair.. https://maps.app.goo.gl/3A1XcmQwSjstKNXw6

[Micro The Maniac]

... a listed building disused for many years ...

Filed under "Things that time will solve"

... it's already in such a state of disrepair...

Refile under "Things that time has solved"

[Chris56000]

Hi!

Admittedly I don't ride a push–bike nowadays, but apart from the mooted H.E. A63 cycle ban a couple of years ago that got canned due to pressure from the two–wheel lobby, has any part of the A63 in Hull got any n.m.u. prohibitions on it? – Castle Street can't have, from what I see of it on G.S.V. at present, as there's bus stops, shop fronts and side roads leading off it – can anyone clarify?

The D.C.O. doesn't mention any (if it does I can't find where!), unlike the forthcoming A30 Carland Cross – Chiverton Cross scheme, the first non–expressway dual–carriageway scheme in England that will open with a n.m.u. prohibition from day one – I wonder if the A428 Caxton Gibbet – Black Cat dual carriageway will also have a n.m.u. prohibition in it's D.C.O?

Chris Williams

[Debaser]

Hi!

Admittedly I don't ride a push–bike nowadays, but apart from the mooted H.E. A63 cycle ban a couple of years ago that got canned due to pressure from the two–wheel lobby, has any part of the A63 in Hull got any n.m.u. prohibitions on it? – Castle Street can't have, from what I see of it on G.S.V. at present, as there's bus stops, shop fronts and side roads leading off it – can anyone clarify?

Chris Williams

Because of all the factors you describe there is no, nor is there planned to be, any restrictions on walking or cycling on the A63. However, the new alignment requires the mainline to dive down 6 or 7 metres (the overbridge being more or less at ground level (maybe 1m AGL), which is going to be 'challenging' for many cyclists and there will not be a footway within this sag - it's going to be much easier, certainly flatter, to walk along the slip roads and use the signalised crossings (having said that there will be pumped drainage to prevent flooding, so there may be some hardstanding for maintenance personnel).

[delinquentwoody]

Another article in the Hull Daily Mail today, I've pasted it here due to the volume of adverts.

Hull's huge £355m A63 Castle Street upgrade takes next step

Highways England lead outlines next steps as formal Development Consent Order comes into effect

The £355 million upgrade of Hull’s ‘main entrance’ will provide opportunities for local businesses.

Highways England will receive the formal Development Consent Order for the huge A63 Castle Street project on Thursday, June 18.

The complete transformation of Mytongate junction is the focal point of the massive scheme, and the agency is now working with contractor Balfour Beatty and Hull City Council to ensure economic benefit in the build, as well as the result, reports Business Live.

And it is a familiar location for senior project manager James Leeming - who spent two years as a traffic consultant with Hull City Council two decades ago - while unusual in nature for Highways England.

Mr Leeming, who is also the Yorkshire and Humber regional chair of the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation, said: “It is a really unique, challenging scheme.

"When you drive on the strategic network, most of the time you are nowhere near a city centre, on the likes of the M1 and A1. This project goes right through the middle of a city.

“The one thing everyone knows is that you cannot shut the A63 in the daytime. The city centre cannot cope with it. If we do need to close the road it will be night time and weekends.

"We are also working with the city council to get their network up to scratch before the main underpass work starts.

"For the first 18 months not many people will notice a difference, it will be isolated elements of improvement.”

Immediate work has seen the discharging of conditions in relation to the order, which comes into effect today.

“It will be split into two,” Mr Leeming said of the project he has been involved with for three years, with others many more before.

It was given financial backing in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s first Budget back in March, with the consent from the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, following late last month.

What lies beneath the area has been the initial focus, and that continues. “The first 18 months to two years will be the mobilisation period,” Mr Leeming said, with Trinity Burial Ground a key factor, but not the only city subterranean legacy.

"We have careful exhumation and reburial work, the removal of pipes and KCom infrastructure, with a large sewer diversion, and lots of other pipes and cables that need to be moved to clear the way.

“There will be a lot of accommodation works, access roads, and the closure of roads in Old Town.

“We are nearing completion on the bridge now, then there’s another bridge at Porter Street, for full cycle and pedestrian use again.

“Then it comes to the underpass. It will involve the creation of a huge bathtub in the city centre, and people will have to divert to cross. We will have to make sure signage is very clear, and as resilient as

"A scheme of this nature, one of the most important jobs is to make sure all activity goes to plan. We don’t want people stuck in queues, we want people to have the right information ahead of travel.”

The main underpass work will be late 2021 or new year 2022 “if we get a good wind”.

“There are lots of unknowns in a city centre,” he said. “We have exhumed a number of bodies, but until you start digging you just don’t know. Plans are in place and it is a really interesting part of the project. It is exciting for the people of Hull - it has been a long time coming.”

Peaking at about 200 workers, Mr Leeming told how Balfour Beatty is the delivery partner, but that there will be a core Highways England team on site and a “big supply chain”.

On the contractor community, he said: “We are working very closely with Balfour Beatty to get local firms involved, there will be plenty of opportunities.

“There will also be lots of people coming into Hull, staying over in Hull, aiding the local economy for five years.”

Working as a traffic signalling consultant in Hull, having been brought up in Huddersfield and now based in Wakefield, he knows the area well.

He added: I spent a lot of time driving round the city, and I’m pretty sure I did a survey on Mytongate junction - it is strange how things go round in a full circle.

“We’re all really excited, and while we’re working at home now, it will be great to get out to site in the next few weeks and see how we progress.”

[Debaser]

“There are lots of unknowns in a city centre,” he said. “We have exhumed a number of bodies, but until you start digging you just don’t know.”

I should also have pointed out, within my earlier 'minefield' statement, that Hull was of course the second most bombed city in the UK during WW2. Another exciting challenge for the ground engineering team.

[delinquentwoody]

12 months work to exhume 19,000 bodies is now beginning to make way for the work on Castle Street...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-h ... -hXgJoUru8

[delinquentwoody]

Here's an update video from the BBC on how HE are getting on with the exhumations for these junction works:

https://www.facebook.com/11845056490923 ... 505013830/

Looks like a pretty big tent they have put up.