Great Yarmouth road improvements

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jackal
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Great Yarmouth road improvements

Post by jackal »

There are two major schemes in Great Yarmouth.

The under construction Third River Crossing will provide a new dual carriageway across the Yare to the south of the existing crossings, with associated dualling of William Adams Way. The crossing itself is a bascule bridge, lifting in the centre to allow larger vessels to pass. Costs are some £121m.

Info: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/roads-and-tr ... r-crossing
Layout: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/-/media/norf ... t-2018.pdf

The A47 Great Yarmouth Junctions provides improvements at two sites. The first is Harfreys rbt, the interface between the aforementioned William Adams Way and the A47. This just removes some hatching to provide a third lane on the southbound entry and other minor changes.

Image

The other site is Vauxhall rbt, where the A47 makes a 90 degree turn over a railway bridge. It's proposed to add a second bridge, providing a wider entry and exit, with the rbt elongated to accommodate it.

Image

While these are undoubtedly improvements, the A47 must have one of the very highest volumes on an S2 bypass in the country at some 32k AADT. Just how much more capacity do they think there is to squeeze out of it? The A47 should at least be dualled south of Vauxhall rbt, and preferably grade separated as far as the A143.

Junctions scheme page: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work ... 43267ae0-1
Good article in local paper: https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/traffic/va ... ed-8521786
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jackal
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Re: Great Yarmouth road improvements

Post by jackal »

The NH scheme page has been updated, including a dreaded Virtual Exhibition Room.

https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work ... rovements/
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skiddaw05
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Re: Great Yarmouth road improvements

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It's a bit surprising that Highways Whatever have worked out that Gapton Hall roundabout no longer needs anything doing to it. Traffic already queues regularly on the northbound A47 approach, sometimes all the way back to Harfreys roundabout and it can only get worse with the addition of the 3rd crossing traffic

I can't see the S2 section between Gapton Hall and Vauxhall being dualled as it would need either a new lifting bridge alongside the existing Breydon Bridge or the existing bridge to be replaced by a new D2 structure, which would cost a fortune. Though I have wondered if the existing deck would be wide enough for an S2+1, I'll have to get out and measure it sometime!
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jackal
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Re: Great Yarmouth road improvements

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skiddaw05 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 19:46 It's a bit surprising that Highways Whatever have worked out that Gapton Hall roundabout no longer needs anything doing to it. Traffic already queues regularly on the northbound A47 approach, sometimes all the way back to Harfreys roundabout and it can only get worse with the addition of the 3rd crossing traffic

I can't see the S2 section between Gapton Hall and Vauxhall being dualled as it would need either a new lifting bridge alongside the existing Breydon Bridge or the existing bridge to be replaced by a new D2 structure, which would cost a fortune. Though I have wondered if the existing deck would be wide enough for an S2+1, I'll have to get out and measure it sometime!
It looks like the new bridge would be about half as long as Breydon Bridge, but then it's D2 rather than the S2 that would be needed. So it would probably be £100m-£200m. A lot but not completely crazy money in road building terms.

Gapton Hall should be grade separated.
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A303Chris
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Re: Great Yarmouth road improvements

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skiddaw05 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 19:46 It's a bit surprising that Highways Whatever have worked out that Gapton Hall roundabout no longer needs anything doing to it. Traffic already queues regularly on the northbound A47 approach, sometimes all the way back to Harfreys roundabout and it can only get worse with the addition of the 3rd crossing traffic
According to models from NH and Norfolk CC, when I was working up that way four years ago, Gapton Hall has loads of spare capacity. Now I thought differently based on surveys we had done, but was not going to argue as it definitely benefited our case.
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skiddaw05
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Re: Great Yarmouth road improvements

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I've had a bit of time to think about this. Now I know next to nothing about traffic modelling but some comments on Sabre have suggested that there is scope to manipulate the figures to get the outcome you want. To be fair the northbound queues to the Gapton roundabout could have more to do with the switch from D2 to S2, and the almost non-existent merge length as you leave the roundabout (here), but the powers-that-be's assertation that the roundabout has plenty of spare capacity glosses over the very real congestion problems at this location
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jackal
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Re: Great Yarmouth road improvements

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A 250kg WWII bomb had an unplanned explosion around 5pm today while being defused. It was discovered by contractors working on the new Third River Crossing. No one was hurt and damage to the bridge and other infrastructure has been minimal due to the sand barrier constructed as a precaution. There are videos of the explosion at the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-64604115
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Re: Great Yarmouth road improvements

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jackal wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 21:33 A 250kg WWII bomb had an unplanned explosion around 5pm today while being defused. It was discovered by contractors working on the new Third River Crossing. No one was hurt and damage to the bridge and other infrastructure has been minimal due to the sand barrier constructed as a precaution. There are videos of the explosion at the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-64604115
I was about 600yds away as it happened. Even at that distance, and sat in my car, the sound was incredibly loud.

As reported above, other than some windows and minor damage to scaffolding on the new bridge, the damage was extremely limited; the work the sappers had put in on the sandbag wall contained the worst.

James
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