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...and it's only 15 years ago since Stansted to Braintree cost only £90M. Yes, it's a few years ago and there's been a bit of inflation, but what is the reason for a simple rural road to be estimated to cost so much?
Didn't plans for this section get dumped in 2010 because at either £600 or £660 it was deemed too expensive?
I notice that despite the A120/A12 being a 3 way junction UK designers are unable to design a free-flow connection (only one bridge req'd). At Yr 2026 traffic estimates of 40,000 vehicles can't see a dumbbell design working too well.
A non-announcement really; four routes still in contention, only the "on-line" option A dropped. Section 7 in the cabinet report does suggest option D is the currently best performing option in the ongoing considerations and some of the thinking going on.
Removing option A actually simplifies things rather a lot, reducing it essentially to two options for the western section and two options for the eastern section:
It seems C was most popular followed by E, which are the two options routed to the south in the Braintree area. So one could even say the likely choice is between C, D and E (D apparently being the cheapest and best performer).
It sounds like ECC would've liked to have made option D the preferred route but felt there was too much risk doing so at such an early stage - I suppose they're trying to avoid a Chichester-type scenario.
With Route D joining the A12 so far south, with the A12 Chelmsford to Colchester due to be widened to D3, and with the Chelmsford NE bypass seemingly some way off, maybe a fair chunk of London/M25 bound traffic from Braintree and the A131 and A1017 to the north will favour the A120 to get to the A12 London-bound rather than the A131/A130.
Aside from their indirectness, my main issue with D and E is the fact they'll increase flows substantially on the A12 between Marks Tey and Rivenhall by making it multiplex with the A120, probably requiring widening to D4 in the long run. So the apparent cost savings are actually false economies.
jackal wrote:Aside from their indirectness, my main issue with D and E is the fact they'll increase flows substantially on the A12 between Marks Tey and Rivenhall by making it multiplex with the A120, probably requiring widening to D4 in the long run. So the apparent cost savings are actually false economies.
Fair point. If, however, say, the A12 was widened off-line J24-25 (to avoid the garden settlement for instance) then the incremental increase in costs of going from D3 to D4 wouldn't be excessive I'd guess and certainly a lot less than the extra £250m or so of new A120. The extra bit B & C have is particularly expensive, going a long way through Bradwell Quarry and a viaduct over the Blackwater. (They also have an action group against them, there is a no to B&C action group on Facebook concerned about the environmental impact of these options on the Blackwater valley.)
jackal wrote:Aside from their indirectness, my main issue with D and E is the fact they'll increase flows substantially on the A12 between Marks Tey and Rivenhall by making it multiplex with the A120, probably requiring widening to D4 in the long run. So the apparent cost savings are actually false economies.
Fair point. If, however, say, the A12 was widened off-line J24-25 (to avoid the garden settlement for instance) then the incremental increase in costs of going from D3 to D4 wouldn't be excessive I'd guess and certainly a lot less than the extra £250m or so of new A120.
That would be logical. Unfortunately the A12 Chelmsford to A120 widening (J19-25) has already been consulted on as a D3 scheme, and the PRA is due this winter. It certainly won't feature D4 (the scheme is already wildly over the £100m-£250m budget). So you'd probably need a further scheme to widen J23-J25 to D4.
Costs are around £500m for adding a lane to J19-25 (see the Options Assessment Report), so back-of-the-envelope for a further scheme to add a fourth lane to J23-25 would be £200m+, basically eliminating any savings compared to B & C.
The Galley's Corner/Folwer's Farm fudge as depicted in the video looks somewhat horrendous... I think that the collection of small roundabouts, trading and commercial development and roadside services there, coupled with the local access to that part of the town, the tie-in with the A131, and Freeport outlet park make that a recipe for disaster.
c2R wrote: ↑Fri Jun 08, 2018 16:28The Galley's Corner/Folwer's Farm fudge as depicted in the video looks somewhat horrendous... I think that the collection of small roundabouts, trading and commercial development and roadside services there, coupled with the local access to that part of the town, the tie-in with the A131, and Freeport outlet park make that a recipe for disaster.
Both ends are like an explosion in a roundabout factory. Junction design from the people who brought you every other cack-handed junction in Essex.
At Galley's Corner I've found a way to get rid of three roundabouts, a bridge and several lengths of unnecessary link road without even having to try. It's like they're being paid by the roundabout.
galleyscorner.jpg (80.88 KiB) Viewed 1904 times
Of course, where there are spurious roundabouts, there is probably a local development plan with an eye on a housing estate, so the chances the junction will be de-bloated in this manner are slim.
With the Opening of the dual carriageway link between the M11 and Braintree, traffic levels on the remaining section of single carriageway between Braintree and the A12 have increased over the years. A report by the Road Safety Foundation found the A120 between Braintree and Marks Tey to be the 10th most dangerous in the country and two major proposals to improve the remaining section of the route have been made over the period since the previous improvement opened.
Echoing the thoughts of many already, another road project looks to be spoiled by messy junctions at either end. Aspects of the Galley's Corner junction aren't great at all, but the A12 junction is ridiculous. Planners should never try and plug a new expressway into a junction where there is local access to be maintained. Having A12 westbound to A120 northbound going through two dumbbell roundabouts is an embarrassment. I realise budgets and available land aren't endless, but come on....
The A12-A120 junction is crying out for a trumpet. And for the B1024-old A12 to be rerouted a little further north in a separate junction on the A120.
