National Highways is set to improve safety across the South West with £13m of investment into several schemes, starting with the A36 in Wiltshire and the A30 at Junction 29 of the M5 in Exeter.
Starting this month, the government-owned company will begin targeted safety enhancements on the A36 at Codford St Peter, which has seen a number of serious collisions.
One cause of these recorded collisions is the inappropriate overtaking of A36 vehicles turning left into Codford by southbound A36 vehicles, due to the short and narrow left turn lane on the A36.
To improve safety on this section of road, National Highways will be:
building a new, dedicated left turn lane for eastbound vehicles exiting the A36 into Codford St Peter to help reduce unsafe overtaking manoeuvres
upgrading drainage systems to help ensure surface water is cleared from the carriageway as quickly as possible
improving pedestrian crossing points on the A36 between High Street and Sherrington Lane
renewing road markings
improving signage
carrying out vegetation works to enhance the condition and biodiversity of the nearby woodland
Extending the length and width of the left turn lane will reduce inappropriate overtaking and improve the visibility of all vehicles approaching the junction.
The work will start on Monday 20 April and is expected to take seven weeks to complete. Works will be completed under four-way temporary traffic lights, weekend closures, weeknight closures, and junction closures.
Similarly, on the A30 around the M5 junction 29, National Highways will be installing seven yellow box junctions on both the eastbound and westbound carriageways.
Over the past five years, there have been 13 reported collisions on the A30 around junction 29, between the northbound off-slip road and the Science Park junction.
More than three-quarters of these related to vehicles failing to comply with red traffic signals.
The box junctions aim to help prevent vehicles causing an obstruction by queuing across the junction during busy periods, enabling the free flow of traffic. The boxes will be enforced by police from a camera van bay that will also be installed.
Other safety schemes across the region being delivered during this financial year include:
A30 Kennards House to Five Lanes
M5 J29 to 31 barrier gap closures
A38 Wobblywheel to Splatford
A35 Honiton to Charmouth
These schemes range from reviews of speed limits and speed camera systems to barrier gap closures and junction improvements.
Jack Mason, South West Road Safety Manager, said: “Road safety is, and will always be, our number one priority; that is why our ambition remains that no-one should be harmed while travelling or working on our roads.
“We’re always exploring ways to make our roads safer by using collision data, risk assessments and insights to better understand driver behaviour.
“The enhancements we are introducing on the A36 and A30 are targeted works and just the beginning of improvements this year, aiming to reduce the number of people harmed on the region’s roads.
“Our roads are a vital part of everyone’s lives, and we’ll never stop exploring ways to improve safety and reliability.”
This work features alongside several larger schemes such as the A417 Missing Link scheme and smaller yet important targeted interventions tackling issues such as wrong-way driving at our junctions.
Jack added: “Along with our targeted safety work, as part of the Government’s Third Road Investment, we will be working hard to maintain all of our roads and ensure they are kept in a safe and reliable condition.”
For more information on National Highways’ safety schemes in the South West, visit:
https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/south-west/safety-schemes-in-the-south-west-region/
