The major £93m upgrades to the North Devon Link Road are set to begin in November 2020.
The improvement scheme to widen a 7.5km stretch (just under five miles) of the A361 for a stretch of carriageway from the Portmore roundabout in Barnstaple to Filleigh Cutting near South Molton had planning permission granted earlier this year.
Wednesday’s Devon County Council’s cabinet meeting saw councillors agree to progress with plans for a pedestrian and cyclist underpass at Bishop’s Tawton Junction and a pedestrian and cyclist bridge at Landkey Junction.
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Further consultation had been carried out by the council over the plans for Bishop’s Tawton and Landkey junctions, with a preferred option decided on, and the cabinet on Wednesday agreed to approve those schemes to the planning permission stage.
The cabinet also approved the appointment of a contractor to undertake advance planting and associated works to an estimated value of £500,000.
They were told that to remain on programme some advance planting must now be undertaken in 2019 to achieve a 12-month establishment period prior to the start of main upgrade works in November 2020 starting.
The November 2020 start date is the first time a date for when the main works would begin has been mentioned.
Cllr Andrea Davis, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, Development and Waste, when the overall scheme was agreed, said that the road is the lifeblood of North Devon, a massive priority to businesses and residents and it was a landmark decision which was the is the biggest thing to happen to North Devon in a generation.
Speaking at Wednesday morning’s meeting, she said that during the initial consultation phase concerns about the junctions at Bishop’s Tawton and Landkey had been raised and these schemes were to improve the situation.
She said: “Residents were concerned that the nature of the proposed widening at Bishop’s Tawton roundabout would negatively impact cyclists and pedestrian’s ability to safely cross the road. Children had to cross the road as the school is on the other side of the road to the village and watching children run out across the Link Road was quite awful to watch.
“The upgrades make the junction wider, so it would make it worse to cross the road, and following consultation, an underpass seemed to be the best option.
“The underpass is wide, it will be well lit, and you can see one end from the other. I am not a fan of them but I am confident I would go down there at night.”
She added that during the consultation phase of the planning process, Landkey Parish Council highlighted the need for a segregated pedestrian crossing at Landkey Junction and they were concerned that the new development takes place would be completely cut off from the village, so a footbridge would be put in place, that would also take pedestrians away from having to cross the road.
Cllr Richard Edgell, who represents the Chulmleigh and Landkey ward, said that the cycle and pedestrian link was key. He added that an underpass is of concern to people who live very close to it so it was vital that it is well maintained and well lit, but added: “These proposals have very strong local support and will be a much safer place.”
Cllr Jeremy Yabsley, who represents the South Molton ward, added that he welcomed the work and said this was the right thing to do.
The cabinet unanimously agreed that a planning application for the Bishop’s Tawton scheme would be submitted in summer 2019, with the view to begin procurement in winter 2019. Construction would likely begin in 2021 or later to minimise disruption once the phasing of the ‘main works’ between Portmore and Filleigh.
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The planning application for the Landkey scheme will be submitted in 2019, once the design for the scheme has been finalised.
More than £83 million of government funding has been confirmed to pay for overall upgrades with a further £10 million coming from Devon County Council’s Highways department.
WATCH: Eight of the most shocking dashcam videos from the North Devon Link Road
Drivers taking 'too many risks'
Dashcam footage captures "dangerous" overtake on the North Devon Link Road
In August 2017, just days after a woman and three children were killed in two separate crashes on the Link Road, we shared this video from Barnstaple resident Sarah Cusden.
Sarah posted the video to Facebook to warn other motorists about the dangers of the road.
She said: “I drive almost 200 miles to get to work and back every day and I get so annoyed with other road users.
“The North Devon link road should be a dual carriageway for the amount of traffic that uses it, but it isn’t the road that is dangerous it’s the road users. Get a grip people think of everyone else on the road with you, you aren’t invincible.”
'Stupid and impatient' overtaking caught on camera
Peter Westaway captures dangerous overtaking on the North Devon Link Road
This was the moment a "stupid and impatient" motorist crossed double white lines and drove on a restricted section of road to overtake an HGV – while a lorry was driving towards it.
The footage was captured on camera by HGV driver Peter Westaway on the A361 North Devon Link Road, who says he sees bad driving on this road "day in, day out".
Peter, from Landkey, who actually worked on the construction of the North Devon Link Road back in the 1980s, urged the driver – and others like them – to consider their actions.
He said: "I have driven HGVs on this road since it was built and in that time I, like many others, have been inconvenienced by accidents and the idiots who cause them. Everyone has their own agenda and they are not aware of others. It is purely down to impatience."
Yet another 'near miss' captured by LGV driver
Dashcam footage shows yet another near miss on infamous A361 link road
This footage shows an impatient driver overtaking a truck by crossing double white lines and driving on a restricted section of a main road towards incoming traffic – only to find themselves stuck behind another lorry.
Chris Tucker drives large goods vehicles (LGVs) for a living and caught this on his work vehicle's dashcam.
The footage shows a lorry overtaking Chris and just making it back onto the right side of the road before the overtaking lane disappeared.
But then a second vehicle, a black car, also overtakes Chris, crossing double white lines and driving over a red, restricted section of the main road before braking hard and squeezing in between the two LGVs.
He said: "This is a regular occurrence on the A361 and this sort of thing happens on nearly every trip between Tiverton and Barnstaple and back. I drive LGVs on that route about three times a week."
Silver saloon crosses double white lines in 'dangerous' overtake
Double white line overtakes on A361 near South Molton
Two dangerous overtakes by the same car were caught on camera on Friday, August 25, at around 6.30pm near Aller Cross, South Molton.
A silver saloon can be seen overtaking across double white lines twice in the space of less than half a mile.
The footage was caught on dashcam by North Devon driver Tim Huckstep, 41, who was shocked by the saloon driver’s disregard for road safety.
Tim’s wife Beverley contacted DevonLive to highlight the incident, saying: “We are absolutely amazed that the driver didn't crash and we expected to find an accident in front of us.
"He only managed to pass us and the Golf in front then got stuck behind a coach all the way to Barnstaple so gained nothing!"
Highway Maintenance van performs 'totally dangerous' overtake
Highway Maintenance van performs 'dangerous' overtake on A361 North Devon Link Road
This is the moment a Highway Maintenance van crosses double white lines to perform a 'dangerous' overtaking manoeuvre - while a car on the other side of the road is coming straight towards it.
The moment of madness was captured on a dashcam by Paul Heather while he was driving the A361 North Devon Link Road.
Paul, who is a director of Charles Darrow property firm, believes if the van had collided with the car travelling towards it, it could have caused a fatal crash.
Another Highways van caught overtaking illegally
Dashcam footage of a Highways maintenance van overtaking on the A361 North Devon Link Road
This dashcam footage shows the moment a Highway Maintenance vehicle crosses double white lines to overtake an articulated lorry on a notorious Devon road.
The video was taken on the A361 North Devon Link Road and clearly shows a flatbed truck marked "Highway Maintenance" cross double white lines into a hatched area - all while traffic is coming in the other direction.
It was the second time in three months that a Highway Maintenance vehicle has been caught on camera performing such a manoeuvre on this road.
Another driver crosses double white lines while overtaking
Dashcam footage from the North Devon Link Road
This video shows the moment a driver crosses double white lines to overtake on a notorious main road.
The footage, supplied by Paul Mugford from Bideford, was taken near the Aller Cross roundabout at South Molton on the A361 North Devon Link Road.
In it you can see a red vehicle overtake while crossing double white lines and a hatched area of road. The car overtakes on one of the slimmest sections of hatching, just as the area runs out.
Paul posted the footage to the North Devon News Facebook page last night, saying: "Just another idiot on the North Devon Link road this evening, from my sons dashcam."
'Stupid' driver crosses TWO sets of double white lines
Dashcam footage captures "dangerous" overtake on the North Devon Link Road
This video shows the moment a driver crosses not one, but two sets of double white lines on a notorious Devon road - less than two days after similar footage was obtained from almost exactly the same spot.
The dashcam footage was sent to DevonLive by lorry driver Steve Jones from Wellington in Somerset who was driving near South Molton on the A361 North Devon Link Road at the time.
As the video shows, the black Mercedes car waits until the last moment to overtake Steve's lorry ad crosses two sets of double white lines and a hatched area in the process.
Steve says it's the "most dangerous overtaking" he's seen in his year's of driving the road.
WHAT IMPROVEMENTS WILL BE MADE?
Extra overtaking
Arguably the biggest change will be that three large sections of the road will see an extra overtaking lane added.
In total, this will add approximately seven kilometres of “alternating overtaking” lanes to the road at the following sections:
- Portmore to Landkey (1km)
- Landkey to Swimbridge (2km)
- Swimbridge to Filleigh Cutting (4km)
These will be monitored by average speed cameras, which the council says will provide “more reliable journey times, less accidents and greater resilience”.
Average speed cameras
As part of the road safety improvements, average speed cameras will be introduced to sections of the road.
Average speed cameras, also known as SPECS, operate as sets of two or more cameras installed along a fixed route that can be from 200 metres (660 feet) to 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in length.
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Other improvements
The following improvements will also be made:
- Buckleigh Road junction, Bideford – conversion of three-arm priority junction to three-arm signalised junction
- Heywood Road roundabout, Bideford – increase the size of the roundabout to allow more lanes for traffic to travel through the junction and add a crossing for pedestrians and cyclists
- Westleigh junction, Bideford – additional westbound lane to increase capacity at the signalised junction
- Bishop’s Tawton roundabout near Barnstaple – increase the size of the roundabout to allow more lanes for traffic to travel through the junction
- Landkey roundabout near Barnstaple – conversion of a three-arm priority junction to a four-arm roundabout to access proposed development
- West Buckland junction – conversion of staggered priority junction to grade separated junction to improve safety
- Hacche Lane junction near South Molton – conversion of priority junction to restrict right turning movements to improve safety
- Borner’s Bridge junction near South Molton – conversion of priority junction to roundabout to improve safety
