A47 Corridor improvement programme

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roadphotos
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by roadphotos »

What happened to the promise made by the Government in 2014 that these improvements would start construction by 2020
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KeithW
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by KeithW »

roadphotos wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 00:25 What happened to the promise made by the Government in 2014 that these improvements would start construction by 2020
Their status is planned and scheduled for RIS2 with a start date of 2021/2022
https://highwaysengland.co.uk/programme ... -programme
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jackal
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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ais523 wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 23:19 From a road traffic point of view, there's no benefit for making the flyover two-way. A47 westbound to A141 is a left turn, you don't need a flyover for a left turn. The only benefit would thus come from allowing NMUs to avoid having to cross a freeflow lane at-grade (although they'd still have to cross the traffic slowing for the roundabout at-grade), and an NMU bridge is probably cheaper than adding a second lane to a vehicular flyover.

For what it's worth, I think adding freeflow lefts would be a much more sensible option than adding an extra circulating lane with no guidance on which lane is for what (i.e. the current plan). Luckily, the current plan can be changed into a plan with filter lanes simply by re-marking the road. However, I have a suspicion that on a roundabout where all the exits are two lanes wide, a third circulating lane isn't going to give much benefit unless some sort of spiral markings are in use.
The Scheme Assessment Report linked above found that the partial freeflow options (flyover or left turn filter) delivered the worst outcomes in terms of traffic flow. Certainly freeflow options might be too expensive or cost inefficient, but how could they actually be worse for traffic flow? The flyover, for instance, (1) means that 30% of traffic sails through at 50mph+, (2) that there's 30% less traffic on the roundabout, and (3) that most major conflicts are removed. How could adding a third lane to the roundabout possibly deliver more benefit than (1)-(3) combined?

My hypothesis is that we have a generation of traffic engineers raised to believe that adding lanes and/or signals are the solution to every junction problem, because they've only worked on local authority or pinchpoint-style schemes. Now there is often the budget to do more many are still trapped within the stacking space heuristic.
Fenlander
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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Berk wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 23:29The A141/A47 is the main route from March to Peterborough for many people. The A605 still has a level crossing west of Whittlesey with considerable delays, and the North Bank route from Whittlesey to Peterborough also gets flooded during excess rainfall periods.
I see the level crossing bridge replacement works have been delayed yet again so that route isn't going to get easier any time soon.
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jackal
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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A revised design has been released, with a much smaller freeflow left turn:

Before: https://www.edp24.co.uk/polopoly_fs/1.6 ... /image.jpg
After: http://assets.highwaysengland.co.uk/roa ... y+2020.pdf

It's a bit worse but somewhat understandable as it delivers most of the benefit at lower cost. They hope to submit the DCO next year.

https://highwaysengland.co.uk/projects/ ... -junction/
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skiddaw05
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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jackal wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 12:05 A revised design has been released, with a much smaller freeflow left turn:

Before: https://www.edp24.co.uk/polopoly_fs/1.6 ... /image.jpg
After: http://assets.highwaysengland.co.uk/roa ... y+2020.pdf

It's a bit worse but somewhat understandable as it delivers most of the benefit at lower cost. They hope to submit the DCO next year.

https://highwaysengland.co.uk/projects/ ... -junction/
I'd like to see how the NW facing off-slip ends up being marked out, at the moment there are 3 lanes: two left turn lanes for the the A11 south, with the right lane for the B1172 and A11 north.

I would expect the roundabout bypass, if that's what they're called, to only have one lane, like at the A505/A1(M) at Baldock. But this would mean only one left turn lane on the slip road instead of two, which might encourage some southbound A11 traffic to still use the roundabout from the middle lane (Apex Corner springs to mind)
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jackal
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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Press report that an 'improved' version of the plans for Blofield to North Burlingham has been announced. The design looks largely the same as that at the statutory consultation, providing a freeflowing route including a compact GSJ:

https://www.highwaysindustry.com/furthe ... g-project/

Sequencing of A47 schemes according to the RIS2 delivery plan is as follows:

Scheme - Start construction - Open

A47 Wansford to Sutton 2022-23 Q4 2024-25
A47 Great Yarmouth junctions 2023-24 2024-25
A47 Guyhirn junction 2020-21 Q4 2022-23
A47 North Tuddenham to Easton 2022-23 Q4 2024-25
A47 Thickthorn junction 2022-23 Q4 2024-25
A47 Blofield to north Burlingham 2022-23 Q4 2024-25

A47/A1101 Elm Road junction is in the pipeline for RIS3
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jackal
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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Boris has been reminded about an inconvenient campaign promise so Acle Straight may be back on the agenda:

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/a ... -1-6862532
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skiddaw05
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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jackal wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2020 10:58 Boris has been reminded about an inconvenient campaign promise so Acle Straight may be back on the agenda:

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/a ... -1-6862532
Thanks for that, since the start of lockdown I've stopped getting the EDP or any other newspaper because it was too depressing, so it's handy to have local updates!

Alas knowing how prone to slips of the tongue our PM is he could well have been talking about something completely different :wink:
doebag
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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Accodring to the local newpaper, work on Guyhirn improvements is due to start in the spring of 2021.
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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Tree and vegetation clearance at Guyhirn started this week.
BeenEverywhere
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by BeenEverywhere »

That's going to be a heck of a job when you consider it's built on a soil causeway and how much hgv traffic uses it.
Been everywhere... can't remember any of it

Was fun though :laugh:
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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Public notice about Blofield to North Burlingham in the paper Guardian this morning.
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by doebag »

BeenEverywhere wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 08:48 That's going to be a heck of a job when you consider it's built on a soil causeway and how much hgv traffic uses it.
Yes, this is the original line of the A47 before the new bridge was built. Correction, the A141, the A47 crossing was about 600 meteres further north.
https://goo.gl/maps/CwShVAZzDEXSHkSh8
The new level is quie a bit higher.
I first came to this part of the world in the early 80's when the old bridge was still in use.

The offical diversion is quite long [understandably] The local villages will be quite noisy at night when the road is closed.
Last edited by doebag on Sat Feb 27, 2021 18:55, edited 1 time in total.
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jackal
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

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Blofield to North Burlingham was accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate in January. They're hoping to start in early 2023.

PINS page: https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... n=overview
General arrangement: https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... 0Plans.pdf
Micro The Maniac
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by Micro The Maniac »

jackal wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:41 Blofield to North Burlingham was accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate in January. They're hoping to start in early 2023.

PINS page: https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... n=overview
General arrangement: https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... 0Plans.pdf
For a new dual-carriageway, some of those left-in/left-outs (I hesitate to call them junctions) are a bit tight!
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skiddaw05
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by skiddaw05 »

I was expecting some of this to be dualled online, particularly the Burlingham bypass. I wonder what use the current bypass will get as there's no properties to access along there
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jackal
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by jackal »

Micro The Maniac wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 16:46
jackal wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:41 Blofield to North Burlingham was accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate in January. They're hoping to start in early 2023.

PINS page: https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... n=overview
General arrangement: https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... 0Plans.pdf
For a new dual-carriageway, some of those left-in/left-outs (I hesitate to call them junctions) are a bit tight!
They're compact GSJs, which are pretty usual on modern DCs - and much better than the flat roundabout originally proposed.
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Debaser
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by Debaser »

jackal wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 08:47
Micro The Maniac wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 16:46
jackal wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:41 Blofield to North Burlingham was accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate in January. They're hoping to start in early 2023.

PINS page: https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... n=overview
General arrangement: https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... 0Plans.pdf
For a new dual-carriageway, some of those left-in/left-outs (I hesitate to call them junctions) are a bit tight!
They're compact GSJs, which are pretty usual on modern DCs - and much better than the flat roundabout originally proposed.
They're actually one step up from the DMRB's basic design for compact GSJs, as they're not just tapers straight into radii but are more like parallel diverges. So should allow drivers to slow down sufficiently for the curves whilst being off the mainline, therefore not impeding through traffic.
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jackal
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Re: A47 Corridor improvement programme

Post by jackal »

Highways England are to carry out a strategic study of dualling the A47 between Peterborough and Wisbech.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.peterb ... 4535%3famp
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