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Topic: A350 to get all of Bath's unwanted HGVs? (Read 3697 times)
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Graham Ellis
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An interesting article in the Bath Chronicle (see here) describes how the City's leaders will be voting next week to ban lorries from the City, and that they're even going to be paying for signage to divert lorries coming up the A36 to the motorway OFF the A36 / A46, and onto the A350 through Westbury, Yarnbrook, Melksham, Beanacre and Chippenham. The article says that they've consulted on this, and it's what the people of Bath want. 1. Can they, unilaterally, put this ban in place and/or do they already have approval from Wiltshire / North Wilts / West Wilts? 2. What will the effect of adding all the extra through HGVs from Warminster to the M4 be on the A350, a road that has major sections that were never designed as a trunk road? 3. The people of Bath have been asked. Have the people of Wiltshire been asked, and what was their view? My personal view is that it would be inappropriate to put all the extra traffic on the A350 in its current state. The A350 is already set to take the best part of 109,000 journeys per year as from December, plus lots of other growth ... I understand than consultation inoput can be sent today to democratic_services@bathnes.gov.uk on this. |
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Graham Ellis
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Here's a map showing how an extra section of road (about 1 km in length) from the A36 near Holcombe Farm to A4 near Bathampton Farm would take all of the A36 to motorway HGVs away from Bath city centre without sending them a huge extra distance via Westbury, Melksham and Chippenham along roads that were not built for such traffic.  Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland |
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Nick Field
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I have heard about the scheme to put another link road in from the A36 to the A4 in Bath, which seems like a good idea. I think though that when the Batheaston Bypass was originally built this idea was rejected; but now people seem to be in favour of it. I dont think anyone in Wiltshire has been consulted with regards to re routing via the A350, at least as far as I know. What impeccable timing this could be for folk who are no longer able to use the train! I always thought traffic from Southampton / the South Coast area heading towards Bristol and the West was advised to go via the A34 and join the M4 at Newbury.
If only these decision makers would talk to each other!
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Graham Ellis
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I dont think anyone in Wiltshire has been consulted with regards to re routing via the A350 A contact at BaNES writes: Consultation to date has been limited mainly to the Bath & North East Somerset area, although the proposals have previously been reported in the Bath Chronicle.In other words, yes, you're right Nick. I suspect that the A34 / M4 route advise IS given, but that's such a long way roundand time is money for HGVs, so they'll use shorter routes is allowed. By that way, I've also got confirmation that the A36 to A4 link at Batheaston is still live / possible but that wouldn't be actually built for a few years and they're looking for an interim solution. |
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Lee
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A proposed HGV ban in Bath city centre hinges on the results of a public inquiry into a bypass for Westbury (link below.) http://www.roadtransport.com/Articles/2009/01/15/132697/bath-hgv-ban-depends-on-westbury-bypass-inquiry.htmlBath and North East Somerset Council would like to introduce a weight restriction on the A36 along the Warminster Road, Cleveland Bridge and Bathwick Street areas of Bath. However such a move would divert traffic travelling south through the town on to the A350 and would therefore require the agreement of Wiltshire County Council. But Wiltshire County Council is waiting for the outcome of a public inquiry conducted last year into the viability of a Westbury bypass on the A350. In a statement, Wiltshire County Council says it will object to Bath's plans until traffic management and environmental improvements are made to the A350, in particular the Westbury bypass, in order to mitigate the diversion of lorries from the A36 through Bath. |
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Graham Ellis
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In a statement, Wiltshire County Council says it will object to Bath's plans until traffic management and environmental improvements are made to the A350, in particular the Westbury bypass, in order to mitigate the diversion of lorries from the A36 through Bath.
The article also says (word for word "Such a ban would require agreement from Wiltshire County Council as they would have to accommodate a significant number of HGVs that would divert from Bath as a result." Reading that wording very carefully, and seeing the words "in particular" - would I be correct in understanding that Wiltshire are minded to say "yes, send your lorry traffic our way IF ...." and that "if" relates to there being (a) approval for the Westbury bypass, (b) other improvements (perhaps dealing with Yarnbrook, which is the worst jam on the road in my experince) for example but that they have NOT specified that it should depend on improvements to the parallel rail service which would help pull car traffic off the road? |
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