"Kent's Biggest Road Projects"

[jackal]

A surprisingly thorough Kent Online article:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/ ... es-305177/

[Ritchie333]

I will believe the Leeds - Langley relief road when I see it. However, I suspect it's likely to have several roundabouts providing access to new development north of Langley. It can't be used as a way of north - south A229 traffic to avoid Maidstone town centre.

[Fluid Dynamics]

Not so thorough when it comes to West Kent though, what about A228 Colts Hill Bypass, A21 Kippings Cross to Lamberhurst and M25 Junction 5 all movements?

[Peter Freeman]

That is quite informative and well-written, for a local paper.

I'd be interested to know more about the proposed new roads near to Margate. I've never noticed major issues on either A299 or A28. GMaps seems to agree.

[Darren]

I don't know about the Grovehurst Roundabout improvement. Do we have a topic on it? It doesn't look, on GMaps, to have a major problem.

Would you like a potted history of the junction? Well, you're going to get one anyway (from a local)!

Originally it was a simple T (or "priority") junction, with the original single carriageway A249. It became notorious into the 90s due to the traffic on the A249, which on busy days would be a steady stream of cars. I remember having to wait 10 minutes or more in a queue just to get onto the main road.

The Iwade bypass opened in 1996 with something close to the current dumbbell arrangement. It'd been designed either in the late 80s or early 90s, and was perfect for the job.

There were two things which spoiled it, and which hadn't been accounted for in the original plans...

Over the years the developers descended on Iwade, turning it from a traditional village into a sprawling urban dormitory, full of "cram 'em in" housing estates. This has led to the population more than quadrupling over the past 25 years (from around 1100 to over 4400 today). Pretty much all that extra traffic uses the A249, meaning the dumbbell is constantly busy during the rush hours.

Added to that is the saga of the northern relief road, something which desperately needs to be finished - but which nobody is at all keen to actually do, lest they lose votes in the area where the final bit of road would go (Bapchild). The road clogs up with long tailbacks of lorries every evening, as it's the signed route for "Sittingbourne industry". To add fuel to the fire, KCC changed the routing of the B2005 to go along the relief road, rather than the more direct (and more residential) route it had been before. To accommodate this, they enlarged the eastern roundabout, but it was a botch and solved nothing. Every evening you get queues of lorries coming off the A249 northbound, wanting to head east along the relief road, but having to wait as cars keep zipping round. The queues sometimes reach the A249 mainline, which then snarls up.

The other part of this are the housing targets imposed by the government. The area really can't take any more as it is, so to build them they have to improve two things... one being the Stockbury Interchange, the other being converting Grovehurst into being able to take much more traffic by adding a second bridge and traffic lights. This will allow the ~800 further houses planned for Iwade and another ~1200 houses to the east of the A249 to be built.

It's not the end of it, though. Although the Bobbing Interchange will remain relatively unscathed, the Key Street roundabout to the south is going to be butchered - they're closing the majority of the current slip onto the A249, a lovely long, straight bit of road, and replacing it with a short 90 degree turn off a new roundabout (which will connect to a new 650 house estate to be built to the east). Quite how they expect lorries to accelerate to a decent speed along what remains of the slip road I have no idea, all they'll say is that the design meets the relevant standards!

[jackal]

I don't know about the Grovehurst Roundabout improvement. Do we have a topic on it?

viewtopic.php?p=1320401

[M19]

Ah, the joys of using housing to fund inadequate infrastructure vs providing good infrastructure to support well planned growth.

[Ben302]

Quite how they expect lorries to accelerate to a decent speed along what remains of the slip road I have no idea, all they'll say is that the design meets the relevant standards!

It's slightly uphill too at the point where the nose of the slip meets the A249. I imagine the plans may need a redraw to include a longer acceleration lane up until the road levels out (there is space although some trees will need to be felled). Also wonder is the same will happen at Grovehurst as the Northern slips will become shorter and steeper. The general arrangement drawing shows the tie ins at the back of the existing noses (the point where the pavement changes from flexible to ridgid with overlay).

[Fenlander]

Ah, the joys of using housing to fund inadequate infrastructure vs providing good infrastructure to support well planned growth.

There’s a good example of that just down the road from me. The town has finally got a bridge over the railway line as part of of a massive new housing estate under the guise of a relief road (they’re very clear it’s not to be called a bypass). The problem is that as it’s only connected at one end it’s a very highly priced cul de sac.

[AnOrdinarySABREUser]

Ah, the joys of using housing to fund inadequate infrastructure vs providing good infrastructure to support well planned growth.

I don't understand why they didn't convert it into a proper signalised junction instead of a signalised roundabout. There would be more capacity for less landtake.