A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

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jervi
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A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

Post by jervi »

Yesterday Lincolnshire County Council announced that they have received funding to carry out a feasibility study on widening the A17 Heckington Bypass (and A17 either side of it) to a dual carriageway. Currently the road is Single Carriageway with Single Lane Dualing at the junction on either end of the bypass, which was only built (as a trunk road) in the 1980s.
https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/ar ... easibility

Dualing the Heckington Bypass has been a long term aspiration for LCC (for about 15-20 years now). In the past I did find some rough drawings for the dualing, but can't seem to find them now.

It has an estimated cost of £20m to £50m and would provide for about 6-7km of upgraded road stretching from the current end of dual carriageway at Kirkby la Thorpe to the Eastern junction of the Heckington Bypass.
The first 3km is the existing route of the A17 which has a few side roads on it and accesses to a dozen or so properties which may make online dualing dangerous. And the next 3km is the off-line built Heckington Bypass with the largest constraint being the only overbridge which I don't think is widen enough for a D2 (unless the central reserves and hard strips are 25cm wide).

I'd imagine the lower £20m cost would be for online dualing, at grade junctions & reduced to D1 under the bridge. And the higher £50m cost would be an off-line DC between Kirkby & Heckington, and then online dualing of the Heckington bypass with a new bridge & junctions being Grade Separated.
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Bryn666
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Re: A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

Post by Bryn666 »

Whilst I would prefer to see more dualled sections of the A17 for safety reasons, is there any real crisis if a short length of WS2+1 under a constraint is provided? Some safe overtaking opportunity is better than no overtaking opportunity because a DMRB wonk won't deviate from 'standards' at a bridge.
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jackal
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Re: A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

Post by jackal »

I find it surprising that improving the existing modern bypass is taken as a higher priority than an improved alignment east of Heckington to the A1121, a section which still has several property frontages.
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Re: A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

Post by Bryn666 »

jackal wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:37 I find it surprising that improving the existing modern bypass is taken as a higher priority than an improved alignment east of Heckington to the A1121, a section which still has several property frontages.
Avoids the need to consult with them and upset them by proposing scary changes presumably.
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danfw194
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Re: A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

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jackal wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:37 I find it surprising that improving the existing modern bypass is taken as a higher priority than an improved alignment east of Heckington to the A1121, a section which still has several property frontages.
They need to do something about the Swineshead junction, because that's a calamity if you're trying to go from A1121 to A17 Westbound. You either take a risk, or be prepared to sit there for an awfully long time to wait for a clear opportunity to turn right.
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jackal
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Re: A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

Post by jackal »

danfw194 wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 15:35
jackal wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:37 I find it surprising that improving the existing modern bypass is taken as a higher priority than an improved alignment east of Heckington to the A1121, a section which still has several property frontages.
They need to do something about the Swineshead junction, because that's a calamity if you're trying to go from A1121 to A17 Westbound. You either take a risk, or be prepared to sit there for an awfully long time to wait for a clear opportunity to turn right.
There's also a level crossing there on the A17. I'd suggest that the A17 should bypass to the west with a new bridge over the railway and drain, with the A1121 T-junction rebuilt to give the A1121 priority.
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Bryn666
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Re: A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

Post by Bryn666 »

jackal wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 16:10
danfw194 wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 15:35
jackal wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:37 I find it surprising that improving the existing modern bypass is taken as a higher priority than an improved alignment east of Heckington to the A1121, a section which still has several property frontages.
They need to do something about the Swineshead junction, because that's a calamity if you're trying to go from A1121 to A17 Westbound. You either take a risk, or be prepared to sit there for an awfully long time to wait for a clear opportunity to turn right.
There's also a level crossing there on the A17. I'd suggest that the A17 should bypass to the west with a new bridge over the railway and drain, with the A1121 T-junction rebuilt to give the A1121 priority.
Agree fully with this one, the A1121 junction is dire. We had to do some safety works there for the Triton Knoll wind farm haul routes and we were cursing that the project couldn't finance something here. Anything.
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Re: A17 Heckington Bypass Dualing

Post by 2 Sheds »

jervi wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:02only overbridge[/url] which I don't think is widen enough for a D2 (unless the central reserves and hard strips are 25cm wide).

I'd imagine the lower £20m cost would be for online dualing, at grade junctions & reduced to D1 under the bridge. And the higher £50m cost would be an off-line DC between Kirkby & Heckington, and then online dualing of the Heckington bypass with a new bridge & junctions being Grade Separated.
This over bridge has been an ongoing headache for the Lincolnshire bridge engineers for decades. It was frequently struck above the westbound lane. Its headroom exceeded 16’6” but only by a whisker. I don’t know if it was true but hearsay had it that it was the first overbridge a truck would encounter en route from Felixstowe docks (topical! ) to the north of England. However frequent culprits were excavators on low loaders which didn’t have their jibs chained down and which probably hadn’t travelled from Felixstowe. The entire edge beam of the deck was replaced at one time. The picture shows it’s still being struck.
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