Dualling the A46 around Newark 'not the answer to easing congestion' — concerned retired maths teacher
Dualling the A46 around Newark is not the answer to easing congestion on the road and in the town, according to a man who uses it regularly.
John Gillespie, of Upton, a retired maths teacher who enjoys problem-solving, has come up with a detailed proposal for the cattle market roundabout, and believes a similar principle could be applied at the other A46 roundabouts.
It comes after the announcement made by Newark MP Robert Jenrick in September, in support of the dualling of the A46 around Newark, at a cost of £450m.
Mr Gillespie believes a flyover system would be a more effective, cheaper, and quicker way to solve the problem.
He said: “It seems to me, as a daily user, of the A46/A617/A6097 cattle market junction, that the emphasis should be on the remodelling of this and the A1/A46/A17 junctions, rather than a dualling of the A46 bypass itself.
“This is because back-ups and other congestion on the A46 around Newark are, I am convinced, caused by the conflicts of movements at the two junctions.
“Separate the A46/A17 at the two junctions by a two-level remodelling of the junctions themselves, and the congestion and associated queueing is very likely to be significantly addressed.
“In comparison, dualling the A46 sections between the Farndon and A1 roundabouts without separating the conflicting flow would appear to be likely to have very little positive effect — however, millions are spent."
Mr Gillespie said he believed there were ways in which the junctions could be re-modelled with immediate beneficial effect, using the cattle market junction as an example.
He said an underpass was probably unfeasible due to the level of the water table which arrives from branches of the Trent.
“There is, however, vacant land to the immediate south west, opposite the cattle market lorry/car park,” he said. “This has been for sale for some time and is advertised as being available for development, could this be for an overbridge?
“The through A46 could thus be re-routed at higher level to the south of the existing roundabout, with slip roads from the A46 to the existing roundabout.
“There would thus be no need to tunnel below the existing roundabout or remove any of the established planting in its middle.
“The through A46 with its overbridge would take much of the log-distance traffic away from the existing roundabout and thus greatly reduce congestion, while at the same time increasing the overall traffic speeds between Farndon and the A1 junction near Winthorpe.
“Traffic leaving or joining the A46 would simply have to use two of four slip roads, two to the east and two to the west.”
Mr Gillespie said it could not be assumed that throwing money at a problem would solve it.
“You have to think, if you were to design the whole thing again from scratch, what would you do?” he said.
“I do not know what the cost would be, but I believe it would be substantially less than the cost of dualling.
Mr Gillespie said he had not submitted his proposals to anyone, but added: “I am hoping someone will sit up and take notice.”
READ MORE:
New speed limit signs to be installed at one of Newark's busiest roundabouts
Two men arrested on suspicion of attempted murder
'Bickering' MPs' failure and refusal to deliver Brexit — Newark MP Robert Jenrick
