Leicester Eastern Bypass

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jackal
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by jackal »

I've just noticed that there's a scheme in the programme for J19-23A, including J21 upgrades. Rather than take this thread even further off topic I've made a new one here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38199
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

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A price tag of £750 million to £1 billion is presented here, along with a rather different map:

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/ ... ads-548746
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by SteveA30 »

The main reason the A46 route is so busy, must be precisely because it is freeflow n/bnd and only 1 interruption s/bnd. If any eastern route isn't freeflow, the A46 will continue to dominate, because drivers will choose it over any inferior alternative.

Since that and the dualling up to Newark, and Tollbar, it has become one of my main SW-NE routes, replacing A43, A45/A605, and M42-A42 or,A38. When the other 2 rbt mistakes near Tollbar are corrected, this will increase its popularity even more. Newark will then be even worse than it already is, although the southern link to A1 may sort that one out.

This is how drivers think, (well some of us), it isn't a purely local issue, it is a long distance route as well.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by jackal »

Given the council want to put an MSA at J20a that's very likely one roundabout on the bypass already.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by Berk »

Just read this story on the Hinckley Times website. It would appear that the new road would form a ‘proper’ bypass of the A46 around the east of Leicester, which would be fantastic, as it would unlock the road network on the western side.

Not sure what that would mean for the current A46 bypass. Maybe that can become the A5460 (or A564), and Narborough Road can be something else...

The article does mention the road should be an expressway, and delivered by HE, with central government funding (definitely not a 106 job).
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by Truvelo »

If the new bypass is numbered A46 then that will be the third bypass to carry such a number.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

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Berk wrote:Just read this story on the Hinckley Times website. It would appear that the new road would form a ‘proper’ bypass of the A46 around the east of Leicester, which would be fantastic, as it would unlock the road network on the western side.

Not sure what that would mean for the current A46 bypass. Maybe that can become the A5460 (or A564), and Narborough Road can be something else...

The article does mention the road should be an expressway, and delivered by HE, with central government funding (definitely not a 106 job).
The HE have an aspiration to dual the A5 between the M1 and M6, which would achieve similar objectives to the A46 expressway plan - bypass Birmingham Box, unlock land for growth etc etc, which will benefit Hinckley & Burbage - this end of the "bypass" seems to be doubling-up objectives. The M69 is a perfectly good road, it is let down by meeting the M6 and M1 at either end - both of which are to be solved by the M6 Smart motorway and J21-21a upgrades. Add south-facing slips to M69 J2, S2 bypass of Sapcote (both Leics CC ambitions), and I would struggle to see the need for a DC link between Hinckley and the A426 south of Cosby.

As far as numbering goes I'd keep the existing A46 as it is and give the new Eastern route a new number - given it might meet the A607 rather than A46 first at Syston, it's a fair bit to renumber. Better to assign the new route a new number (A564 is a sensible choice).
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by wrinkly »

darkcape wrote:The HE have an aspiration to dual the A5 between the M1 and M6,
Do you mean as far as M6 J12? That must be a change of policy from when the M6 Toll was built, as the bridge near Brownhills doesn't include provision for dualling.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

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darkcape wrote:
Berk wrote:Just read this story on the Hinckley Times website. It would appear that the new road would form a ‘proper’ bypass of the A46 around the east of Leicester, which would be fantastic, as it would unlock the road network on the western side.

Not sure what that would mean for the current A46 bypass. Maybe that can become the A5460 (or A564), and Narborough Road can be something else...

The article does mention the road should be an expressway, and delivered by HE, with central government funding (definitely not a 106 job).
The HE have an aspiration to dual the A5 between the M1 and M6, which would achieve similar objectives to the A46 expressway plan - bypass Birmingham Box, unlock land for growth etc etc, which will benefit Hinckley & Burbage - this end of the "bypass" seems to be doubling-up objectives. The M69 is a perfectly good road, it is let down by meeting the M6 and M1 at either end - both of which are to be solved by the M6 Smart motorway and J21-21a upgrades. Add south-facing slips to M69 J2, S2 bypass of Sapcote (both Leics CC ambitions), and I would struggle to see the need for a DC link between Hinckley and the A426 south of Cosby.
If you believe that, you have missed the point about unlocking access from the east to the west/south/north of Leicester. In any case, why shouldn’t it be a complementary scheme??

Quite a number of road scheme have ended up as being ‘one-sided’, allowing access to one side of a city, but not the other. Whether that was by accident (e.g. not fully completing original plans), design, or funding remains to be seen.

I don’t also share any confidence that ‘smarting up’ the motorways will deliver long-term capacity.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by jackal »

LCC's Prospectus for Growth includes the plans for an expressway-standard eastern bypass, expressway along Watling Street, and upgrade of A42 to motorway standard.

It also has a diagram for J20a, shown as a two-bridge roundabout where the A426 crosses the M1 south of Cosby. This is considered a possible 'early deliverable' for the A46 eastern bypass scheme, which doesn't really make much sense when you see how much less direct it would be compared to the existing A46/M69.

Overall though it is an impressively ambitious document.

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/sites ... lution.pdf
Last edited by jackal on Sun Oct 22, 2017 23:21, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by darkcape »

wrinkly wrote:
darkcape wrote:The HE have an aspiration to dual the A5 between the M1 and M6,
Do you mean as far as M6 J12? That must be a change of policy from when the M6 Toll was built, as the bridge near Brownhills doesn't include provision for dualling.
The document Jackal shared above reports the A5 to be upgraded to expressway between the M1 and A38. Perhaps I'm wrong about all the way to the M6.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

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jackal wrote:It also has a diagram for J20a, shown as a two-bridge roundabout where the A426 crosses the M1 south of Cosby. This is considered a possible 'early deliverable' for the A46 eastern bypass scheme, which doesn't really make much sense when you see how much less direct it would be compared to the existing A46/M69.
Again, I don’t know why this project is seen as ‘unnecessary’. Probably in the same way the A1M Huntingdon-Peterborough D4M was ‘unncessary’. But smart motorways are ‘unnecessary’, because they don’t provide long-term capacity. And they have absorbed billions of pounds of the UK’s road budget for the last decade.

We always keep banging on about congestion on individual routes, but by making better use of the roads we have got, it might be possible to reduce that.

For example, the report aspired to turn the A46 corridor into a medium-long distance alternative link between the A1 and M42. Which would make for a much more consistent journey. Also, if you wanted to travel from Coventry to Melton, or Lincoln, the new A46 is a road you would use. Or from Corby to Derby.

The report also went on to mention about how the current A46 bypass experiences congestion at peak times. Which I haven’t personally experienced, but it’s not hard to imagine that it would.

I would suggest that the current A46 was supported because it would relieve the city centre of a lot of through traffic. Which it has; it also allowed for the Belgrave Flyover to be removed (which it certainly wouldn’t if it was still carrying the A46). However, it came with an unintended consequence - becoming a commuter route for people in northern/western Leicestershire. Perhaps it’s best suited as that. Yes, I accept it’s a more direct route, but it seems to be saturated now.

You need to think about the possibilities the new road would unlock.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by jackal »

I never said the bypass would be unnecessary. But a bypass south of cosby and east of bushby doesn't make much sense as part of the A46/M69 corridor because it's so much longer. To make it the main route you'd have to put traffic calming on the existing A46 or something ridiculous like that. Just look at a map.

It is more plausible as a supplement to the A46 rather than as a new A46.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by Berk »

True. But to draw the route much tighter, you’d be looking at CPO’s and demolition.

Even green fields might prove contentious (remember ‘Pennbury’??). A softly, softly approach will be required.

Besides, if HE is anything to go by, the line of the route will be far from fixed - we’re unlikely to know that for certain until the PRA (if we get that far).

Also, looking at the Landranger map, it struck me just how many villages there are in the area, almost impossible to avoid one. That’s the real reason for the projected route.
Last edited by Berk on Mon Oct 23, 2017 19:52, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by M19 »

As well as improving access to Leicester, it would also create resilience in the wider network.

For far too long roads policy has been too focussed on shoring up a congested network, than creating alternative routes.

The last time a decent alternative was built was the M40 to do the job the M1 and M6 used to do.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

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Berk wrote:True. But to draw the route much tighter, you’d be looking at CPO’s and demolition.

Even green fields might prove contentious (remember ‘Pennbury’??). A softly, softly approach will be required.

Besides, if HE is anything to go by, the line of the route will be far from fixed - we’re unlikely to know that for certain until the PRA (if we get that far).

Also, looking at the Landranger map, it struck me just how many villages there are in the area, almost impossible to avoid one. That’s the real reason for the projected route.
Not only is there no line, there hasn't even been a feasibility study. As you say, it can't go tighter, so I expect that if it's built it will be as a development corridor and distributor for routes south and east of Leicester.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by owen b »

Berk wrote:if you wanted to travel from Coventry to Melton, or Lincoln, the new A46 is a road you would use.
If by "new A46" you mean a new Leicester Eastern bypass, surely the existing M69/A46 would be more direct and usually quicker for those routes.

I can't see that there would be very much long long distance through traffic that this new route would be attractive to unless the existing more direct routes were already over capacity, in which case I'd prefer to improve the existing routes.

I think a new route on this corridor would end up being an open door for lots more development and lots more traffic.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by ais523 »

I think the most obvious routes that would be unlocked by a bypass along this route are ones aiming from the West Midlands in the Rutland direction (and vice versa). Using a bypass to get from the M69 to the A46 doesn't make much sense – people are likely to simply use the direct route – but using a bypass to get to the A47 makes much more sense. (M69 northbound to A47 eastbound is a journey I've done many, many times, and it's surprisingly difficult to pull off, partly because none of the major roads go in quite the right direction if you're trying to go round rather than through Leicester city centre, partly because the signage is terrible.) There might be some use for a connection between the A46 to the north and the A47, too.

I think longterm, it may also be possible for M69/(new road)/A47 to make a decent alternative to things like M6/A14/A43 and M6/A14/A605 for journeys between the West Midlands and the East more generally. It'd certainly help split traffic up more evenly, and, depending on the exact route taken, has the potential to be more direct. You'd probably have to upgrade the A47 but IIRC that's a long-term goal anyway.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

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owen b wrote:
Berk wrote:if you wanted to travel from Coventry to Melton, or Lincoln, the new A46 is a road you would use.
I think a new route on this corridor would end up being an open door for lots more development and lots more traffic.
The Prospectus gives not one but two bullet points about development:

• New route from the south-west to the north-east, relieving the ‘Birmingham Box’
• Unlocks over 4,000 Hectares of land in the Leicester urban area
• Enables smart motorway by relocating Leicester Forest East services
• Provides resilience to M1 and additional capacity for north-south traffic through Leicestershire
• Removes the M1 Leicester Forest East pinch point for north-south traffic
• Potential long term solution to issues on A46 around Leicester urban area
• Aligns with the Nottingham – Leicester – Coventry – Birmingham corridor and the Leicester to Coventry hub
• Unlocks land for development in Leicestershire and Warwickshire

I think they really want a development route and local distributor, but believe their best shot at getting it funded is to connect it with the wider A46 strategy.
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Re: Leicester Eastern Bypass

Post by ais523 »

I find it hard to see how this would have anything to do with the Birmingham box. Regardless of what you do east of M6 J2, you aren't changing how you get to M6 J2 itself; if you're already using the A46, you'll keep using the A46, if you're already using the M6, you'll keep using the M6.

A46 upgrades south of Coventry might well have an impact on the box, but those have nothing to do with bypasses to the east of Leicester.
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