A358 Taunton to Southfields

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RichardA35
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by RichardA35 »

A303Chris wrote:..I have to say that if the rest of the A303 is dualed and this upgrade to the A30 is undertaken, I will still go via the Blackdowns Hills as going via Taunton would add 10 miles to the journey and in my opinion total journey time would be the same
This is the potential white elephant that we could end up with - a SW facing A358 improvement at Taunton catering little for the regional flow of Yeovil to Bristol which still congests Henlade and M5J25 while the strategic SW A303 flow remains on the existing A303 and ignores the new scheme.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Herned »

This is exactly why the Orange option is by HE's own metric (BCR of 1.6) the worst option, and why there was such an outcry from the public and local government. A scheme that still leaves 25,000 vehicles per day going through a village is obviously missing the point
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RichardA35
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by RichardA35 »

Herned wrote:This is exactly why the Orange option is by HE's own metric (BCR of 1.6) the worst option, and why there was such an outcry from the public and local government. A scheme that still leaves 25,000 vehicles per day going through a village is obviously missing the point
Yes but in absolute budget terms it is cheapest so has a good chance of being favoured.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Herned »

True, but I think politics will come in to this as well - Taunton is currently held by the Conservatives but has swung backwards and forwards, a more expensive but more popular road scheme under construction during the next scheduled general election could be seen as a good thing (see the history of the Croxley Rail Link for a similar situation)
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by jackal »

The report on the original consultation is here:

https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... uthfields/

The 'headline' finding, which perhaps explains the rerun consultation:
When asked in the consultation questionnaire, ‘to what degree do you believe the scheme proposal has achieved the objectives?’ 53% of respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed that the proposals would meet the scheme objectives
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Richardf »

What's the latest on thus scheme. Where are we at now?

Went that way today. Thought at the time, they should keep it simple, online dualling with a bypass for Henlade. Improved access to the M5 . Which I know is basically what is proposed, but they seem to be over complicating it with all the different options, when most of us know what it needs.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by jackal »

Richardf wrote:What's the latest on thus scheme. Where are we at now?
Analysis of consultation and further technical work. Preferred route due in late 2018.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Richardf »

jackal wrote:
Richardf wrote:What's the latest on thus scheme. Where are we at now?
Analysis of consultation and further technical work. Preferred route due in late 2018.
Thanks, was wondering as things had gone quiet recently.
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A303Chris
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by A303Chris »

Decision on the final route will not be made until Spring next year with another round of community consultation in January.

HE press release here.

While the road needs to be dualled, if the rest of the A303 is dualled, when I go to Cornwall that way, I wouldn't go up to Taunton and down the M5, but stay on the A303/A30.

Going via Taunton is 13 miles longer and negates some of the distanced saved from using the M4/M5.

The A303 /A30 through the Blackdown Hills is only 13 miles of single carriageway in a otherwise fully dualled route. Traffic Flows are very low apart from the Christmas / Easter / 8 weekends in the summer, so time wise the A303 still will be quicker
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Richardf »

More delay.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Herned »

I assume this means that the consultation is emphatically against HE's favoured route, and some further spin/tinkering is needed to try and get their preference agreed
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Euan »

A303Chris wrote: Thu Dec 06, 2018 09:38 Decision on the final route will not be made until Spring next year with another round of community consultation in January.

HE press release here.
I take it the "final route" refers to the route of the new D2 link road between the existing A358 and a new junction on the M5, rather than the dualling of the section south east of Ash Cross. Would the decision now be to determine whether the link road should bypass Henlade to the south or to the north?
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Herned »

Euan wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 21:12 I take it the "final route" refers to the route of the new D2 link road between the existing A358 and a new junction on the M5, rather than the dualling of the section south east of Ash Cross. Would the decision now be to determine whether the link road should bypass Henlade to the south or to the north?
The original HE preference was for a route connecting to a new roundabout junction on the M5 south of the existing J25. Which was no-one else's preference, it had a worse cost:benefit than two other options. The community and local councils want a route that connects directly to J25, as well as a link to the southbound M5... as without that Henlade will still experience significant traffic.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by jackal »

The PRA is due in "Spring 2019", and today is the last day of spring, according to HE (http://assets.highwaysengland.co.uk/roa ... y+2019.pdf)...
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Herned »

Preferred route announced. Brochure https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... .06.19.pdf.

Abysmal, free flow onto M5 south not going ahead, so the scheme crashes into a new roundabout, before reaching the existing roundabout at J25. Unbelievable
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Chris5156 »

Herned wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 11:29 Preferred route announced. Brochure https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... .06.19.pdf.

Abysmal, free flow onto M5 south not going ahead, so the scheme crashes into a new roundabout, before reaching the existing roundabout at J25. Unbelievable
Abysmal is the word! The brochure has no junction layouts but seems to suggest the Southfields roundabout will also be retained, without free-flow onto the A303. Not much of a display of ambition for the A303 expressway project.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by roadtester »

Chris5156 wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 16:59
Herned wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 11:29 Preferred route announced. Brochure https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... .06.19.pdf.

Abysmal, free flow onto M5 south not going ahead, so the scheme crashes into a new roundabout, before reaching the existing roundabout at J25. Unbelievable
Abysmal is the word! The brochure has no junction layouts but seems to suggest the Southfields roundabout will also be retained, without free-flow onto the A303. Not much of a display of ambition for the A303 expressway project.
Also, do we know the junction in the middle at Ash will be a GSJ?

I agree this looks more like a "let's solve an immediate local problem" solution, rather than "this is the fix that solves the dualling the A303 corridor" problem.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Herned »

Chris5156 wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 16:59 Abysmal is the word! The brochure has no junction layouts but seems to suggest the Southfields roundabout will also be retained, without free-flow onto the A303. Not much of a display of ambition for the A303 expressway project.
The roundabout at Southfields was always staying, changes there were ruled out previously, presumably moved to the Ilminster Bypass dualling scheme of 2064
roadtester wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 17:04 Also, do we know the junction in the middle at Ash will be a GSJ?
I hadn't even thought of that! I take it to mean is they have decided not to have one or other, or maybe even none, of the intermediate junctions south of the A378. But given the rest of the shambles who knows
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by A9Dan »

roadtester wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 17:04 I agree this looks more like a "let's solve an immediate local problem" solution, rather than "this is the fix that solves the dualling the A303 corridor" problem.
I can see similarities here with the A9 at Dunkeld (strategic long distance route vs local needs). It seems that HE's original plan was to give priority to the former with the orange route leaving the current alignment further south and linking directly to the M5 via a new junction rather than heading north first. This would however have effectively left Henlade unbypassed for a significant amount of traffic which is was never going to be popular with the locals and forced a rethink and today's announcement is the result. Just like it seems a roundabout at Dunkeld is almost certain now even though the GSJ would of course be much better for the strategic long distance traffic.
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Re: A358 Taunton to Southfields

Post by Berk »

Maybe this is the time to slam in objections for the examination hearing. Projects that seek the worst option when it still has a low BCR do not deserve funding.
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