Salisbury

Salisbury is a small cathedral city in Wiltshire.

1991 bypass proposals

In the 1960s proposals were made for two relief roads for the city. The inner ring road was built soon afterwards as Churchill Way but the outer bypass was never built leaving Churchill Way to handle all the through traffic which was only meant to be a temporary measure.

In the early 1980s Wiltshire County Council was developing plans for a southern bypass. Around the same time central government was proposing some small scale bypasses of the villages to the northwest of Salisbury such as Wilton, South Newton and Stapleford as trunk road schemes. By 1983 it was decided to promote the whole lot as a trunk road scheme hence why future proposals include bypassing these villages in addition to Salisbury.

In 1988 three routes were put forward for public consultation. They all start at Stapleford in the northwest and join the existing Alderbury Bypass in the southeast. Two routes pass to the southwest of the city and the other to the northeast. Of the two southwestern routes one passes to the west of South Newton and the other to the east. The routes to the southwest of the city received the most support with the route passing to the east of South Newton being the most popular and this was chosen as the route to proceed with.

Initially it was proposed as a single carriageway with at-grade junctions. Major junctions would be roundabouts with minor junctions having short central islands to improve the safety of right turns. The only dual carriageway would be the continuation of the Alderbury Bypass to the first junction. Over time it was recognised that more dual carriageway would be necessary and the section was far west as Wilton would now be dualled. Eventually the whole lot would be planned as a dual carriageway. The junctions were also upgraded with those to the south of the city being grade separated. By the time orders were made in 1991 the only at-grade junction remaining was a roundabout with the A360 to the north of Bemerton Heath. This was soon changed to a limited access GSJ as it was feared traffic would use the A360 to gain access to the city from the bypass.

Complementing the A36 bypass was an eastern bypass promoted by the county council. This was primarily to relieve the A338.

In 1993 the trunk road scheme went to public inquiry which attracted numerous objections. Towards the end of 1996 the government held off making a final decision on whether to go ahead with the bypass until after the 1997 general election. The change of government after the election sealed its fate. The county council's eastern bypass was also scrapped as the southern end would no longer have anything to connect with.

Route Lists

Route	To	Notes
A30	London
A36	Southampton	Final access via M27, M271, A33
A36	Warminster
A338	Bournemouth
A338	Marlborough
A354	Blandford Forum
A30	Stockbridge, Winchester (B3049)
A30	Shaftesbury, Wilton
A343	Andover, Basingstoke (A303), London(M3)
A345	Amesbury	Also brown tourist signs to Stonehenge
A360	Devizes
A3094	Quidhampton

Links

• Story of Salisbury Inner Relief Road: Milford Street Bridge Project  2019 (archive.org)
• Salisbury Cathedral