A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

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jackal
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A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by jackal »

This is an ambitious local authority project, or rather series of projects, that I was not previously familiar with. It is proposed to completely dual the A43 between the A45 and A14 in many phases.

The A43 has long been dualled between the A45 and Round Spinney roundabout (A5076), so the scheme starts there:

[*]Improvements to the Round Spinney roundabout (phase 1a) were completed in 2015. These resulted in increased capacity at this junction and improved traffic flow.

[*]Phase 1b was fully opened for traffic in June 2020. This provided a new road between the Round Spinney and Moulton roundabouts bypassing the existing road.

[*]Phase 2 was a dualling of the section north of the Moulton roundabout to a new junction near Overstone Grange. This was opened to traffic in early 2018.

[*]Phase 3 is intended to extend the dualling to the Holcot and Sywell roundabout. A bid for Government funding towards this phase was submitted in 2016 but was not successful. A bid for Major Road Network funding to construct this section was submitted in August 2019. We are now developing a Strategic Outline Business Case to support this submission.

[*]Further phases will be needed to complete the dualling through to the A14 but have not yet been determined.

These are the budgets:

[*]Phase 1b was constructed within its budget of £17.5m. This included:
£7.9m of government funding through the SEMLEP Local Growth Deal, and
£4.1m of Section 106 funding

[*]Phase 2 was constructed within its budget of £9.25m. It was comprised of:
£6.5m of government funding secured through the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) and
£2.75m of Section 106 funding from the Overstone Leys development

[*]Phase 3 has an estimated cost of £23.7m. A bid for £19.2m of Department for Transport Major Road Network funding is also being progressed.

Unsurprisingly it has so far been built as cheaply as possible, with 40mph limits and no central reservation. While there is still be significant benefit to phase 1b, which bypassed a suburban road with property frontages, Phase 2 onwards are essentially rural and one might query whether a 40mph DC is really an improvement on a 60mph S2.

Another impact on journey times and safety are the additional junctions that have been popped in for developers, especially the roundabout at Overstone. Curiously there seems to be an old fashioned priority junction partway along 'Phase 1b' though it's not open yet. To be fair it isn't so much of a disruption to flow as a roundabout and I suppose they can get away with it due to the low speed limit - though whether that is respected is another issue.

[Text from https://www.northnorthants.gov.uk/roadw ... s-projects with some formatting changes.]
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RichardA35
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by RichardA35 »

jackal wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 09:37 This is an ambitious local authority project, or rather series of projects, that I was not previously familiar with. It is proposed to completely dual the A43 between the A45 and A14 in many phases.,,,
In the distant past (1990ish) when liaising with Northants County Council for temporary dversions of the A43 just south of Kettering, the council representative gave me chapter and verse about the dualling plans they had for the A43 which were reasonably developed and only required funding. It looks like the plans have been dusted off.
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danfw194
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by danfw194 »

The dictionary definition of cheap and nasty. If it's truly going to end up being 40mph for the full length, what a joke. Is the additional capacity even needed in the rural sections? I guess lorries use this route and dualling could be useful to leapfrog them, but not at a 40mph limit.
Hdeng16
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by Hdeng16 »

danfw194 wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 13:41 The dictionary definition of cheap and nasty. If it's truly going to end up being 40mph for the full length, what a joke. Is the additional capacity even needed in the rural sections? I guess lorries use this route and dualling could be useful to leapfrog them, but not at a 40mph limit.
I highly doubt they'd go for a 40mph rural dual carriageway without a barrier. I accept the early phases are pretty poor, but it's through what will become a housing estate pretty much. Just don't think a barrier-less DC would be safe at 40 the entire way. I don't think it's been confirmed either.
tom66
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by tom66 »

Hdeng16 wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 16:51 I highly doubt they'd go for a 40mph rural dual carriageway without a barrier. I accept the early phases are pretty poor, but it's through what will become a housing estate pretty much. Just don't think a barrier-less DC would be safe at 40 the entire way. I don't think it's been confirmed either.
Why would a barrier-less DC at 40mph be less safe than the existing 60mph S2? Is it because the 40mph limit will be disregarded?
Hdeng16
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by Hdeng16 »

tom66 wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 17:14
Hdeng16 wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 16:51 I highly doubt they'd go for a 40mph rural dual carriageway without a barrier. I accept the early phases are pretty poor, but it's through what will become a housing estate pretty much. Just don't think a barrier-less DC would be safe at 40 the entire way. I don't think it's been confirmed either.
Why would a barrier-less DC at 40mph be less safe than the existing 60mph S2? Is it because the 40mph limit will be disregarded?
Yes. (My opinion obvs)
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KeithW
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by KeithW »

If there is no barrier then to all intents and purposes its an S4 road and their safety record is not good, there are a some in Teesside that were built in the 1930's and they mostly have 40 or 50 mph limits.

This road was the old A19 - technically its D2 but there is no barrier
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.61858 ... !1e1?hl=en

A1085 - S4 with 40 mph limit
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.61858 ... !1e1?hl=en

Both of these are non primary and have been superseded for through traffic by the A174
Fluid Dynamics
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by Fluid Dynamics »

KeithW wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 10:02 If there is no barrier then to all intents and purposes its an S4 road and their safety record is not good, there are a some in Teesside that were built in the 1930's and they mostly have 40 or 50 mph limits.

This road was the old A19 - technically its D2 but there is no barrier
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.61858 ... !1e1?hl=en

A1085 - S4 with 40 mph limit
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.61858 ... !1e1?hl=en

Both of these are non primary and have been superseded for through traffic by the A174
The partly GSJ'd 70mph A31 Alton Bypass has no barriers which always seems strange for such an otherwise high spec road
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RichardA35
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by RichardA35 »

jackal wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 09:37 Another impact on journey times and safety are the additional junctions that have been popped in for developers, especially the roundabout at Overstone. Curiously there seems to be an old fashioned priority junction partway along 'Phase 1b' though it's not open yet. To be fair it isn't so much of a disruption to flow as a roundabout and I suppose they can get away with it due to the low speed limit - though whether that is respected is another issue.
Noticed that it is pre-equipped with NAL sockets and loop detectors installed, so I would expect signals as soon as any development starts.
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jackal
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by jackal »

RichardA35 wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 12:19
jackal wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 09:37 Another impact on journey times and safety are the additional junctions that have been popped in for developers, especially the roundabout at Overstone. Curiously there seems to be an old fashioned priority junction partway along 'Phase 1b' though it's not open yet. To be fair it isn't so much of a disruption to flow as a roundabout and I suppose they can get away with it due to the low speed limit - though whether that is respected is another issue.
Noticed that it is pre-equipped with NAL sockets and loop detectors installed, so I would expect signals as soon as any development starts.
You're right. Now I look closer there's a stop line too. So that's another pointless source of delays. No reason the development can't all be accessed from the nearby roundabout.
M19
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Re: A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements

Post by M19 »

It’s classic housing led infrastructure led housing development which is a tail wagging dog way of building massively under engineered schemes.

Many examples are now springing up where old bypass proposals have been dusted off and allowed to be reduced in capacity, filled with horrible junctions, then modelled to suit the conclusions instead of reality, relabelled “development routes” so that the developers of identikit housing, served by identikit cul de sacs can be built.

This section of A43 was supposed to be a boulevard with frontage and street trees in the verges and media. The engineers and house builders in getting the way have created a corridor that’s just tarmac, no trees and housing set well back, with sections of 4-5m acoustic fencing thrown in. Not surprisingly the 40mph speed limit feels too low.

The roundabouts are awful - those where you have to concentrate to stay in lane because of the p-poor standards with entry angles that causes entry path overlap.

Don’t get me started on the grand sounding but equally crap North Northampton Orbital. It’s proposed as a cart track compared to the expressway that was proposed in the late 60s when they had a better but by no means perfect way of thinking about infrastructure.
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