A3121 Safer Roads Fund scheme

[SouthWest Philip]

Over the weekend, I took an impromptu trip to Devon. Whilst there I stumbled upon a not insignificant piece of road construction underway at the A379/A3121 junction near Modbury. This junction was, prior to the current works, essentially a triangle with the mainline of the A3121 terminating on the A379 heading west at a very acute angle and stop line with appalling visibility. The A379 runs east to west along the bottom of the triangle and an unclassified road is utilised to link the A3121 from nearby crossroads (Hollowcombe Cross) with the A379 heading east. As far as I can ascertain, the A379 is being diverted along the unclassified road - in the process of being completely rebuilt - to link with the A3121 at a new roundabout at Hollowcombe Cross. It will therefore take two sides of the triangle meaning the existing section along the south side of the triangle can be stopped up thus dispensing with the poor visibility T-junction at the eastern side. All-in-all quite an elegant solution that should probably have been built 30-years ago when the B3210 was upgraded to become the A3121.

On searching for details about this scheme, I discovered that it is part of a wider Safer Roads Fund scheme covering the whole of the A3121 including several junction improvements and a short section of widening. There is also a similar scheme for the A3123 in North Devon including a proposed new roundabout the the A3123/B3230 crossroads near Ilfracombe.

What strikes me is that I had never heard of the Safer Roads Fund on SABRE. It seems this fund has been around for three or fours years now with the proposed schemes now coming to fruition. The are a quite a number of roads across the country that will be receiving some attention.

Safer Roads Fund document

[NICK 647063]

Safer Roads Fund is also getting used to improve a few roads in North Yorkshire, the A684 between Bedale and Cumbria border is using the fund to close many unofficial lay-bys and upgrading others, some junction improvements, adding double white lines, signage and traffic signal improvements, the railway bridge east of leyburn has had its signals upgraded and now actually detects you approaching rather than having to wait ages, also the A6108 and A682 are also using the fund, it’s designed to be used on accident prone roads for quick fixes, A6108 fund includes adding traffic signals at Skeeby bridge, although it seems so is used for general maintenance like upgrading traffic signals that would be needed anyway.