A major new road upgrade is set to go ahead, after Highways England has approved the A303 transformation. This will allow journeys in the South West of England to be in a better way and also boost the regional economy.
Grant Shapps (UK Transport Secretary) has given the formal green light to a plan which will create three miles of high-quality dual carriageway on the A303 in Somerset. The upgrade, between Sparkford and Ilchester, will see the congestion on the road eased.
The road carries 23,500 vehicles on an average day, but numbers increase significantly in the summer, especially at the weekends, making journeys unreliable and unpredictable. This announcement comes just two months to cover another congestion-busting scheme.
This will last further west along the A303 – the project to dual the route between Amesbury and Berwick Down past Stonehenge, creating a tunnel under the World Heritage Site. These upgrades will unlock economic growth as well as improving journey times.
The reliability between the M3 and M5 will be improved while the project strongly supports the economy. Highways England is now finalising the detailed design with contractors and currently anticipates starting on site in 2021.
The new dual carriageway will include new and replacement slip roads, junctions and road bridges to replace existing junctions and direct access roads. The start of construction will happen from the east of Podimore Roundabout.
It will go along the alignment of the existing A303 to Downhead, and then move north of the existing A303 single carriageway, allowing the existing road to be kept for use as a local road in this section.
English 