Dorset Road Improvements

[Richardf]

Local media has announced proposals for significant road improvements in the county. It's about time!

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/162985 ... orchester/

[RichardA35]

Local media has announced proposals for significant road improvements in the county. It's about time!

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/162985 ... orchester/

Of course currently unfunded with no scheme development work having been carried out and once ready to be funded they will be bidding against the rest of the country for DfT funds. In about 10 years something may happen.....

[Peter350]

Really pleased to hear that a Dorchester northern bypass is being considered, although I would start it from the cuckoo lane junction where the current D2 ends. That way, it could become part of a south coast expressway and free up the current bypass for local traffic

[sotonsteve]

What about the obvious improvement that is desperately needed, which is ensuring dual carriageway (ideally with as few at-grade junctions as possible) all the way from Ferndown to the Weymouth turning at Dorchester?

[Richardf]

I doubt the northern bypass would be of that high a standard and would be more like a local distributor road than a long distance route. Probably only get an A3xx or even A3xxx number.

Personally I think there are bigger priorities for what is going to be a very limited pot of money. Improvements to the existing bypass would be beer, along with bypasses for Chideock and Winterbourne Abbas on the A35. Resurrecting the Poole link road and improving the A350 would also be bigger priorities in the county.

[Herned]

Always seemed odd that no northern bypass for Dorchester exists, it only needs about a mile of completely flat road with nothing significant in the way or structures required.

[Richardf]

Always seemed odd that no northern bypass for Dorchester exists, it only needs about a mile of completely flat road with nothing significant in the way or structures required.

Watermeadows to cross at the western end before hitting the higher ground. That may have been an obstacle to building it in the past.

[Richardf]

So those of you familiar with the county, what schemes and improvements would you like to see?

[SteveA30]

That Dorchester Northern bypass. I go through the town outside of shopping hours and occasionally still use the old rat run via Charminster, which was heavily used before the 1988 bypass. Dual bypass to link with existing D2. Ban right turns out of A352 on to bypass.

More S2/1's on the A35 on hills eg Raymond Hill by the Devon boundary.
Chideock bypass
A35 direct link to the Bere Regis bypass A31 rbt bypassing the other rbt and bend.
D2 from Canford Heath rbt to Canford Bottom hamburger and dualling to the existing D2
Convert Higher Shaftesbury Rd to A350 with link to A350 north of Cann
GSJ A303/A350 junction properly. Ban right turn, slip rd on south side of A303 to cater for that.

[Richardf]

That Dorchester Northern bypass. I go through the town outside of shopping hours and occasionally still use the old rat run via Charminster, which was heavily used before the 1988 bypass. Dual bypass to link with existing D2. Ban right turns out of A352 on to bypass.

More S2/1's on the A35 on hills eg Raymond Hill by the Devon boundary.
Chideock bypass
A35 direct link to the Bere Regis bypass A31 rbt bypassing the other rbt and bend.
D2 from Canford Heath rbt to Canford Bottom hamburger and dualling to the existing D2
Convert Higher Shaftesbury Rd to A350 with link to A350 north of Cann
GSJ A303/A350 junction properly. Ban right turn, slip rd on south side of A303 to cater for that.

I would agree with all of those, Steve.

[Peter350]

That Dorchester Northern bypass. I go through the town outside of shopping hours and occasionally still use the old rat run via Charminster, which was heavily used before the 1988 bypass. Dual bypass to link with existing D2. Ban right turns out of A352 on to bypass.

More S2/1's on the A35 on hills eg Raymond Hill by the Devon boundary.
Chideock bypass
A35 direct link to the Bere Regis bypass A31 rbt bypassing the other rbt and bend.
D2 from Canford Heath rbt to Canford Bottom hamburger and dualling to the existing D2
Convert Higher Shaftesbury Rd to A350 with link to A350 north of Cann
GSJ A303/A350 junction properly. Ban right turn, slip rd on south side of A303 to cater for that.

I would also include:

A31 dualling from Ameysford roundabout to Bere Regis
A35 Winterbourne Abbas bypass
A350 Shaftesbury Eastern bypass
A37 Yeovil Western bypass (Most southerly point will be in Dorset)
Christchurch relief road (A338 - Purewell roundabout)

[Richardf]

Again would agree with these last additions. Shaftesbury would of couse be part of general improvements to the A350. Yeovil would be great especially if it got rid of that dangerous old section of A37 and the railway bridge. Not really Dorset though.

I would add in dualling of the A35 east of Bere Regis, to connect Dorchester and Poole, I would also divert the A354 to an improved A31 at Bere Regis by improving the unclassified road via Winterbourne Kingston which is a rat run already and so naturally bypassing the villages on the existing A354 to the west.

[Peter350]

Some more ideas of mine I forgot to mention in my previous post:

A35 Morcombelake Bypass
A350 Spetisbury & Charlton Marshall bypass
A351 Sandford bypass
A354 Wyke Regis bypass (following route of old Portland railway)
B3073 Hurn bypass

As for the A350 diversion at Melbury Abbas, I would route it on a viaduct to the east of the village. That way, it would able to take a more direct route (via the B3081) to my proposed route of the Shaftesbury eastern bypass. To reduce visual intrusion, I would consider designing the viaduct to blend in with the surroundings. I seem to think a railway viaduct design might work.

[Herned]

Dragging up an old thread with a question about the A37 in Dorset. I drove down to Dorchester today and every time I go that way I'm surprised/pleased with the quality of the route, once past the Somerset county boundary. It's as good as any S2 in the country, and obviously had a lot of money spent on it being straightened and adding all the climbing lanes etc.

My question is why it seems to have happened entirely in Dorset, as the road seriously deteriorates once in Somerset? I assume it was planned by Dorset but seems odd to have been funded without any plans to do the same in Somerset. And also given traffic volumes are relatively low (<10k vpd), how come it happened at all? The A35 and A31 could certainly have done with investment and they are far busier

[jackal]

There were some improvements in South Somerset - specifically north of Closworth (where a section of the bypassed Dorchester Road remains), either side of the 'new' roundabout at the Red House, and the S2+1 at Yeovil Marsh.

[WHBM]

I think quite a bit of the A37 from Yeovil to Dorchester was rebuilt in 1942-4, when a lot was put into improving north-south roads from military grounds to the coast. Same for the unclass road from Blandford to Lulworth, and some others. The schemes weren't complete but seem to have eased off the worst pinch points.

The recommended route from Weymouth/Dorchester to Bristol now seems A37 to Yeovil, then nearly to Taunton and join the M5, so using the Dorset part but not through Somerset. Depends which part of Bristol you are going to but always seems counter-intuitive.

[jackal]

Just to add that most of the A37 improvements in Dorset and South Somerset were in the 90s. Kingston in Yeovil was a late 60s throughpass, and the adjoining A30 multiplex along Queensway a little later.

[WHBM]

A354 Wyke Regis bypass (following route of old Portland railway)

Impractical on a number of scores. Firstly that it's now a well used walkway/cycleway. Secondly that it's through a substantial urban area. Thirdly that it was a single-track railway and putting a main road on the alignment would need a lot of land take. And finally the clifftop section past Castle Cove is actively slipping in to the sea at present and may well be gone in future years. You can see all of this in the aerial pictures which accompany this news story (the old railway alignment is the path between the clifftop houses and the back gardens of those behind).

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... dslip.html

[Richardf]

There were some improvements in South Somerset - specifically north of Closworth (where a section of the bypassed Dorchester Road remains), either side of the 'new' roundabout at the Red House, and the S2+1 at Yeovil Marsh.

The Somerset sections were (and still are) arguably the worst sections of the road before improvement. Most of the Dorset sections weren't that bad, just a bit narrow and slow on the hills. The remaining bad section seems to have been forgotten about, but would be pretty simple to rectify. Could even be combined with some form of western bypass or relief road to link to the A3088.