A49 - Hereford By-Pass

[jackal]

The 'Southern Link Road', due to start construction in 2019, will run across from the A49's roundabout with the B4399 (itself effectively a south eastern bypass) to the A465/B4349.

http://www.hereforhereford.co.uk/wp-con ... LAY_V2.jpg

In September Herefordshire Council consulted on the bypass proper, which would extend up from the A465 to the A49/A4103 north of Hereford, and are currently trying to get funding for it.

http://newsroom.herefordshire.gov.uk/20 ... outes.aspx

[Beardy5632]

I'd have preferred an eastern bypass with a link road over to the A438 at King's Acre but a bypass is a bypass.
It'll save me having to use the B4224 all the time to get out.

EDIT: Maybe when the Southern Link Road is built they'll put restriction signs on the B4348 between the A49 and A465 as that's the current route that HGVs seem to use to avoid Hereford.

[B9127]

Had a look on google earth re the Rotherwas Link Road and it isn't there until you zoom down to street level and it appears - I would have thought quite easy to extend that round to the Worcester road at least.

[IAN]

Could be about to be scrapped!
Ian (M5 Driver)

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/1771 ... rd-bypass/

[Glenn A]

My parents used to use the A49 in preference to the M6/M5/M4 route to South Wales as the drive was less stressful and they could stop for pub meals. However, they did say Hereford was a total bottleneck and spoiled the drive.

[roadphotos]

Apparently funding has been withdrawn for the proposed by-pass, not sure how much if any of the Hereford by-pass will actually get built

[Beardy5632]

I saw this pop up on the Hereford Times and Your Herefordshire Facebook page yesterday. A push for an eastern bridge now I wonder?

[IAN]

I saw this pop up on the Hereford Times and Your Herefordshire Facebook page yesterday. A push for an eastern bridge now I wonder?

Yes, this appears to be the case.

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/1891 ... d-go-east/

[Beardy5632]

I saw this pop up on the Hereford Times and Your Herefordshire Facebook page yesterday. A push for an eastern bridge now I wonder?

Yes, this appears to be the case.

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/1891 ... d-go-east/

The comments from the usual suspects in the article have made me chuckle, especially the one who has labelled the A49 as a well known rat run
Fingers crossed this one goes ahead. Even a bridge over the river to reach the B4224 would be a start though as you're taking traffic who use the B4224/B4399 route to avoid the traffic out of Hampton Bishop, Mordiford and Holme Lacy.

[Glenn A]

It's odd that Leominster and Ludlow have been by passed for decades now, but not Hereford, which is far bigger.

[trickstat]

I saw this pop up on the Hereford Times and Your Herefordshire Facebook page yesterday. A push for an eastern bridge now I wonder?

Yes, this appears to be the case.

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/1891 ... d-go-east/

The comments from the usual suspects in the article have made me chuckle, especially the one who has labelled the A49 as a well known rat run

Oxford definition of a rat run - "a minor, typically residential street used by drivers during peak periods to avoid congestion on main roads."

Some people might live on the A49 but it doesn't fit the definition for me!

[Stevie D]

It's odd that Leominster and Ludlow have been by passed for decades now, but not Hereford, which is far bigger.

My guess would be that a high proportion of traffic is going to/from Hereford, meaning that there is less demand for a by-pass – whereas at Leominster and Ludlow the majority of traffic would be going across the town from one side to the other, so there is a lot more benefit to by-passing them.

[tomuk]

It's odd that Leominster and Ludlow have been by passed for decades now, but not Hereford, which is far bigger.

My guess would be that a high proportion of traffic is going to/from Hereford, meaning that there is less demand for a by-pass – whereas at Leominster and Ludlow the majority of traffic would be going across the town from one side to the other, so there is a lot more benefit to by-passing them.

It's because Hereford was bypassed (city centre) by the inner relief road (Victoria Street) and Greyfriars Bridge opened 1966-69. It just needs another bypass as the city and traffic has grown.

[Beardy5632]

The city definitely needs another river crossing that's for sure, the only one that is suitable for HGVs is the Greyfriars Bridge.

[Glenn A]

It's odd that Leominster and Ludlow have been by passed for decades now, but not Hereford, which is far bigger.

My guess would be that a high proportion of traffic is going to/from Hereford, meaning that there is less demand for a by-pass – whereas at Leominster and Ludlow the majority of traffic would be going across the town from one side to the other, so there is a lot more benefit to by-passing them.

It's because Hereford was bypassed (city centre) by the inner relief road (Victoria Street) and Greyfriars Bridge opened 1966-69. It just needs another bypass as the city and traffic has grown.

Often the case with these limited inner relief roads from that era, they relieve a town centre and some Victorian streets, that are often pedestrianised or restricted to buses, but the problems remain on the approaches.

[B9127]

A helpful part of the by pass that could be built is from Hedley Lodge on the Abergavenny Road to to Ross Road would take a bit of pressure from the circle at Asda - I dont really fancy leaving my car on the north side of Hereford and biking across town to to Belmont - it would appear from viewing the council website a lot of the councillors live out in the sticks and their towns are already by-passed

[Octaviadriver]

A helpful part of the by pass that could be built is from Hedley Lodge on the Abergavenny Road to to Ross Road would take a bit of pressure from the circle at Asda - I dont really fancy leaving my car on the north side of Hereford and biking across town to to Belmont - it would appear from viewing the council website a lot of the councillors live out in the sticks and their towns are already by-passed

If you parked on the north eastern side of Hereford, you can walk or cycle to Belmont on the Great Eastern Way, which mostly follows the course of the former railway line that was a bypass for Hereford station that was used by freight or through trains. They've kept the former railway bridge over the River Wye that's to the east of the bridge for the A449, so you can avoid going too near the city centre.

[Owain]

My guess would be that a high proportion of traffic is going to/from Hereford, meaning that there is less demand for a by-pass – whereas at Leominster and Ludlow the majority of traffic would be going across the town from one side to the other, so there is a lot more benefit to by-passing them.

It's because Hereford was bypassed (city centre) by the inner relief road (Victoria Street) and Greyfriars Bridge opened 1966-69. It just needs another bypass as the city and traffic has grown.

Often the case with these limited inner relief roads from that era, they relieve a town centre and some Victorian streets, that are often pedestrianised or restricted to buses, but the problems remain on the approaches.

There is that, plus the fact that Hereford does have a bypass of sorts in the form of a dualled partial ring of the city centre that dates from the 1960s (as tomuk points out). It might be woefully inadequate for coping with current traffic volume, but it isn't as overwhelmed as the high streets of Leominster and Ludlow would be had those towns not been bypassed.

You have a similar situation on the A36, where smaller places like Beckington and Warminster have been bypassed, but Salisbury continues to rely on a very busy dualled partial ring that avoids the city centre, but not the suburbs.

EDITED after reading other replies!

[roadphotos]

The Hereford By-Pass has now officially been cancelled. Councillors have voted to stop any more work on the proposals and scrap the scheme.

[A303Chris]

The Hereford By-Pass has now officially been cancelled. Councillors have voted to stop any more work on the proposals and scrap the scheme.

What I can not understand is how a hotchpotch of various independent councillors, like around the country who got in on a Brexit vote in 2019, do not look at a wider picture. By 2023 elections I have a feeling most of them will go as the electorate realise there ideas are not exactly sensible and not actually represent the majority. It is happening around here

But what are Highway England doing. The A49 is a trunk road through the city, surely they can throw some weight behind it.