A390 Truro-St Austell

[adam 1972]

Another of my favourite roads is the A390, mainly the Truro to St Austell part as I lived on this road in Probus for 14 years and frequented this road a lot going to St Austell College and Truro.
This stretch has seen a lot of change, back in the early 80's I remember the road being improved just outside of Grampound, if you look on Google Maps you can see from the eastern end of Grampound towards Hewaswater, parts of the old road to the left of the current route, some parts of it are laybys.
The biggest change came in the early 1990s when the Sticker Bypass was opened 9 months ahead of schedule, the bypass is very straight and people do tend to speed on it (not guilty !!) and it made the trip to college a lot quicker, and the junction at the eastern end was built grade separated but with no westbound access, if you wanted to go to Truro from Polgooth you have to take the old road to Hewaswater & turn left onto the A390 there.
I was a bit miffed that Sticker got a bypass when Probus had been on the cards for ages, the traffic in the village was appalling, and often had heavy lorrys coming and going from the meat factory, I remember one day it took me 20 minutes to cross the road by the chip shop.
1995 and we finally got a bypass, sadly a local man lost his life in an accident whilst building the road, but the day it opened the difference in the village was amazing, so quiet and peaceful, the only niggle I have with this bypass is the junction at the western end, it is a bit of a nightmare turning right towards Truro & there have been several accidents there, to my mind it should have been grade separated as there is plenty room for an overbridge.
If I remember rightly, originally the A390 became the A39 at the Ladock junction at Truck Hill & then it was A39 all the way to Arch Hill where it met the A390 again all the way to Chiverton Cross.
I can sort of remember when it went through Chacewater to Scorrier, but that must have been early 1980s, can't remember exactly which year it changed, possibly when the Blackwater Bypass was completed in 1988, but didn't go that way very often.
I have driven the A390 from Truro all the way past Dobwalls & to the A38 and it is quite fun to drive.
I wonder if a Grampound and a Tresillian Bypass will ever see the light of day, Grampound is by far the worst part of the A390, part of the Indian Restaurant on the main road there actually colllapsed because of the heavy traffic, & they had to move the restaurant to Probus.
I'm sure a Grampound Bypass was planned but it came down to lack of funding and a suitable route.
Tresillian often floods, a bypass there would have to run to the north & join up with the road near the new park and ride just west of Union Hill, but don't think it will ever happen.

[Norfolktolancashire]

Having driven on the Probus bypass forr the first time this summer I was surprised at how well engineered it was.
The A390 could do with improving to bypass St Austell and widen between there and Dobwalls, along with new D2 between Liskeard and Plymouth this would give two good routes into Cornwall.

[DavidBrown]

See for me, I can't stand the A390. My grandparents used to live in Carlyon Bay, so it's a road I know well. A St Austell bypass was proposed once (at around the same time as the Sticker/Probus bypasses were being built and opened), but personally I can't see what benefit it would have as I think St Austell has very little through traffic - any Truro to Plymouth traffic will use the A39/A30/A38. The biggest problems in St Austell are the double roundabout at the Mevagissey turn, and the Asda supermarket which has caused chaos on the A390 since the year dot.

Onwards to Truro isn't as congested, but just a terrible drive. The bypasses are a tease of what could have been, but Grampound helps bring the whole lot down and just makes it a drag.

[adam 1972]

It would,and bypass St Blazey & Tywardreath as well.
I can't see how they could bypass St Austell though, the logical route would be to the south but it would have to cross the Charlestown road at some point & there are a lot of buildings along that road, a northern route would be a lot longer and more complicated.

Yes the Probus Bypass is well engineered, a lot of locals worked on it & I used to walk the dog on the back roads there so watched it take shape over the months, it's just the junction at the Tresillian end could have been designed better, like I said with an overbridge to provide a grade separated junction, it can be quite dicey at busy times trying to turn right towards Tresillian.
The only problem they did have with the Probus bypass was the cattle underpass near the Tregony junction, it started sinking & had to be repaired several times.

David Brown, I agree about Grampound, should have been bypassed long ago, also the Grampound Road turn off or Newstables as it's called is an accident blackspot, a Grampound Bypass could have emliminated that junction, I also find Tresillian a drag now it has a 30 limit.

[wrinkly]

From the Budget papers:

4.74 New link road in Cornwall – Government will help to improve access to the A391
near St Austell by providing £79 million towards a new A30 link road, supporting housing
development in the area.

[Herned]

Presumably a bypass for Bugle?

[wrinkly]

I seemed to remember discussing Bugle before and found it here:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35124&hilit=bugle

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34473&p=816697&hilit=bugle#p816697

[A303Chris]

Cornwall have update there page on the A391 here

The new road will go from the end of the recently completed section near at Carluddon, past to the west of Roche and join the old A30 at Victoria, where you will use to old road to the Cornwall Services , details here.

Seems a bit perverse you build a bypass for Victoria then put traffic back on it

[Berk]

Cornwall have update there page on the A391 here

The new road will go from the end of the recently completed section near at Carluddon, past to the west of Roche and join the old A30 at Victoria, where you will use to old road to the Cornwall Services , details here.

Seems a bit perverse you build a bypass for Victoria then put traffic back on it

On the contrary, I found it was giving Roche, and Stenalees a bypass. That being said, I don’t think this proposal offers a shorter route to St Austell from the A30, even if it is promised to be NSL. The current route looks better, although it currently has (and will have) a lower limit.

It’s probably more about segregating HGV and local traffic.

Would it not be better to replace the current Victoria junction on the A30 with one a little bit closer to the new road, where it turns south?? It may not happen, but that’s what I would’ve chosen.

[A303Chris]

.Would it not be better to replace the current Victoria junction on the A30 with one a little bit closer to the new road, where it turns south?? It may not happen, but that’s what I would’ve chosen.

Well that wont happen now Cornwall Services has been built at the Victoria junction. The only service area to be advertised on local radio in Cornwall (Pirate FM) a couple of years back, we a strap line of "Cornwalls only motorway style service area"

[multiraider2]

Cornwall Council have now granted planning permission for the A391 link road.

See here

Should we split these posts off to a new thread or is there one I've missed about this particular project?

[Norfolktolancashire]

Cornwall Council have now granted planning permission for the A391 link road.

See here

Should we split these posts off to a new thread or is there one I've missed about this particular project?

The main thread seems to be this one

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39654&p=1031193&hilit=A391#p1030813

[multiraider2]

Cornwall Council have now granted planning permission for the A391 link road.

See here

Should we split these posts off to a new thread or is there one I've missed about this particular project?

The main thread seems to be this one

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39654&p=1031193&hilit=A391#p1030813

Thanks, I thought there was then missed it.