A489/A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016 - • Opened 14/02/19 •

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wrinkly
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Started (was: Now Contracte

Post by wrinkly »

The draft orders and plans are supposed to be here but the links to the plans don't work. (They still don't work if you change "lang=en" in the address to "lang=cy"!)
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Started (was: Now Contracte

Post by wrinkly »

wrinkly wrote:The draft orders and plans are supposed to be here but the links to the plans don't work. (They still don't work if you change "lang=en" in the address to "lang=cy"!)
The links now work. (Probably have been for a long time but this is the first time I've checked since I wrote the above.)
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Started (was: Now Contracte

Post by rhyds »

Looks like the Public Enquiry's done and dusted:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-34660911
The proposed route for a bypass to ease traffic problems in a Powys town has been given the go-ahead.

The 3.4 mile (5.6km) bypass will run south of Newtown and south of the Mochdre Industrial Estate but objectors wanted it to pass through the site.

A three-week public inquiry was held in June and now Transport Minister Edwina Hart has given the green light for work to start before the end of the year.

It is expected to be completed in 2018, ending decades of calls for a bypass.

"This bypass will improve the quality of life for the people of Newtown and improve journey times and safety along the A483, A489 and local roads within the town," Mrs Hart said.
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by AAndy »

Work on a £53m road aimed at easing congestion around a Powys town will start in March, the transport minister has announced.

Edwina Hart said construction work on the Newtown Bypass will create 90 jobs and apprenticeships.

The four-mile (6.5 km) bypass will run from Llanidloes Road, to the west of the town, to Pool Road in the east.

Ms Hart said a contract had been awarded to Alun Griffiths Ltd, with work to begin on 7 March.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-35653245
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IAN
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by IAN »

Piece on BBC 'Midlands Today' to confirm start of work, including a brief view of the 'drive through' and reference to re-aligning the route to miss a 500 year old tree.

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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by AAndy »

A few photos from the car camera on the south side of Newtown where marking out and clearence has begun.

Pictures bigger on flickr.

1, looking North over the fields which will soon be tarmac.
Imagenewtown bypass c by Dskies, on Flickr

2.heading North
Imagenewtown bypass d by Dskies, on Flickr

3.
Imagenewtown bypass e by Dskies, on Flickr

4.
Imagenewtown bypass a by Dskies, on Flickr

5.
Imagenewtown bypass b by Dskies, on Flickr

6.Travelling in the opposite direction;
Imagenewtown bypass heading south a by Dskies, on Flickr

7.
Imagenewtown bypass heading south b by Dskies, on Flickr

8.
Imagenewtown bypass heading south c by Dskies, on Flickr

9.
Imagenewtown bypass heading south d by Dskies, on Flickr
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by orudge »

Excellent to see this underway - it's been a few years now since I've been down that way but it'll certainly be nice to be able to get around Newtown rather than having to crawl through it!
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wrinkly
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by wrinkly »

A website about the Newtown bypass works:

http://www.royfellows.uk/newtown_bypass.html
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by Norfolktolancashire »

wrinkly wrote:A website about the Newtown bypass works:

http://www.royfellows.uk/newtown_bypass.html
That is some sized earthworks at the junction of the A483 and the new bypass south of the town!
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by AAndy »

Some photos I've taken this week in this flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/55553192@ ... 6940105273


A couple of examples looking more or less SW with the A489 at the far end of the works:


a:
ImageNewtown bypass construction september 2017 a by Dskies, on Flickr

b:
ImageNewtown bypass construction september 2017 k by Dskies, on Flickr
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by PeterA5145 »

I first noticed this under construction in the summer of 2016, and was perhaps a little surprised when I came through earlier this week to find it still nowhere near completion. Granted it does involve some substantial earthworks, but even so it's hardly the fastest piece of road construction :roll:
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

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PeterA5145 wrote:I first noticed this under construction in the summer of 2016, and was perhaps a little surprised when I came through earlier this week to find it still nowhere near completion. Granted it does involve some substantial earthworks, but even so it's hardly the fastest piece of road construction :roll:
Apparently about halfway through they realised they could fit S2+1 through and did some redesigning
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by PeterA5145 »

rhyds wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 12:36
PeterA5145 wrote:I first noticed this under construction in the summer of 2016, and was perhaps a little surprised when I came through earlier this week to find it still nowhere near completion. Granted it does involve some substantial earthworks, but even so it's hardly the fastest piece of road construction :roll:
Apparently about halfway through they realised they could fit S2+1 through and did some redesigning
I'll forgive them that, then. The Welshpool Bypass could do with some S2+1, as it's surely wide enough. It's WS2 and tends to see a bit of down-the-middle overtaking.
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

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rhyds wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 12:36 Apparently about halfway through they realised they could fit S2+1 through and did some redesigning
Halfway through what? Halfway through design is quite likely but wouldn't explain a long construction period, which Peter was commenting about. If you're suggesting it was changed halfway through construction, that sounds like a load of urban legend to me. Or rather rural legend.

Edit: Here's the summary environmental statement dated November 2014. Top of page 7 (pdf page 9) says it would be WS2+1.

https://beta.gov.wales/a483-and-a489-ne ... al-summary
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

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wrinkly wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 14:29
rhyds wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 12:36 Apparently about halfway through they realised they could fit S2+1 through and did some redesigning
Halfway through what? Halfway through design is quite likely but wouldn't explain a long construction period, which Peter was commenting about. If you're suggesting it was changed halfway through construction, that sounds like a load of urban legend to me. Or rather rural legend.

Edit: Here's the summary environmental statement dated November 2014. Top of page 7 (pdf page 9) says it would be WS2+1.

https://beta.gov.wales/a483-and-a489-ne ... al-summary
From what I understood from here and the BBC site they had completed the design and were starting some of the early clearance works when the decision to change to WS2+1 was made. My thinking was that if WS2+1 needed slight earthworks modifications they might have changed the order/phasing of works until the final WS2+1 plans were available.
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

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rhyds wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 15:43 From what I understood from here and the BBC site they had completed the design and were starting some of the early clearance works when the decision to change to WS2+1 was made. My thinking was that if WS2+1 needed slight earthworks modifications they might have changed the order/phasing of works until the final WS2+1 plans were available.
Not possible, as far as I can see. The line order was not made until December 2015, so I would have thought it's most unlikely they would have been doing clearance works before that date without legal authority. The environmental statement summary that I linked above shows it was planned as WS2+1 in November 2014. The inspector's report confirms that the public inquiry was held in June/July 2015 (see front page) and that the plans before the inquiry were WS2+1 (see para 1.10).

I'm also sceptical about claims I've seen in the media, including BBC, that the line was moved further away from an ancient oak tree. The only official documents I've seen suggest the inspector and minister thought it was far enough away already. It may be that a small adjustment was possible within the limits of deviation.
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by wrinkly »

Near the top of the WG's scheme page is an impressive nearly-10-minute video of the state of the works as they were in May, from west to east.

Just west of the eastern terminal roundabout, the existing trunk road into Newtown is (or was at the time of the video) on a temporary alignment which remains north of the bypass. The permanent road into Newtown will turn off "the wrong way" from the roundabout and go under the bypass.

I hope to have a look at it for myself in the next few days.
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by A303Chris »

wrinkly wrote: Mon Sep 24, 2018 19:09 Near the top of the WG's scheme page is an impressive nearly-10-minute video of the state of the works as they were in May, from west to east.

Just west of the eastern terminal roundabout, the existing trunk road into Newtown is (or was at the time of the video) on a temporary alignment which remains north of the bypass. The permanent road into Newtown will turn off "the wrong way" from the roundabout and go under the bypass.

I hope to have a look at it for myself in the next few days.
Impressive video and I know we had a dry summer but there seemed to be a lot of work to do to make the opening date of early 2019, especially earthworks
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Re: A483 Newtown, Powys - Bypass Work Starts March 2016

Post by AAndy »

If Carling made road Construction videos....... Thanks for that Wrinkly :D

If you want a birds eye view , go up to the dolfor to kerry c road that runs between the a483 and the a489... the place where my earlier photos were taken.

Some photos from last week.. just stills from the car dvr.

Notice NSL signs on on the D2+1 ...

1. towards Newtown on the A 489
Imagenewtown bypassa a489 towards newtown by Dskies, on Flickr

2.
Imagenewtown bypassa a489 towards newtown b by Dskies, on Flickr

3.
Imagenewtown bypassa a489 towards newtown c by Dskies, on Flickr

4. Towards Llandod on the A483
Imagenewtown bypass a483 towards llandod by Dskies, on Flickr

5.
Imagenewtown bypass a483 towards llandod b by Dskies, on Flickr

6.
Imagenewtown bypass a483 towards llandod c by Dskies, on Flickr

7.
Imagenewtown bypass a483 towards llandod d by Dskies, on Flickr
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