Most Needed Road Improvements

We've made a Top 10 list of the road schemes that this country most desperately needs to be built.

1. A556(M). The A556 route linking the M6 and M56 near Manchester is a very dangerous and congested section of road. It runs past houses and other properties, and for much of its length is 4 lanes wide with no central reservation to separate oncoming traffic. It is the main route from the south into Manchester and as such carries a heavy volume of traffic.
   Open Road is campaigning for it to be replaced by a dual 2-lane motorway. It's only 4 miles long, and wouldn't be very expensive to do!
   Status: The government has refused to upgrade the route to motorway, and instead is planning piecemeal upgrades with various junction modifications and minor widening. We say, this half-hearted approach will lead to accidents, injuries and deaths.
2. A14. The A14 between Huntingdon and Cambridge is one of the most dangerous stretches of dual carriageway in the country. It has several junctions and private accesses, and the volume of traffic using it far exceeds what it was designed for.
   Open Road is campaigning for the A14 to be upgraded to a dual 3-lane motorway from its junction with the A1 to its junction with the M11.
   Status: The government has agreed to upgrade this section, but only to 3-lane all-purpose standard. It has also been repeatedly delayed. We say, that's not good enough.
3. A3 Hindhead. The A3 is a full dual carriageway between London and Portsmouth, except for a short 3-mile section of single carriageway at the village of Hindhead. This causes considerable congestion, which in turn leads to misery for local residents.
   Open Road is campaigning for the planned dual carriageway tunnel to be built through the hills to alleviate this bottleneck.
   Status: This improvement is finally now under construction!
4. M6 Carlisle. The M6 is part of a continuous motorway connection between London and Glasgow, except for a short 5-mile section of 2-lane all-purpose dual carriageway near Carlisle (sometimes known as the "Cumberland Gap"). As you can imagine, this section of road is congested and dangerous.
   Open Road is campaigning for this gap to be upgraded to 3-lane motorway standards.
   Status: This improvement is finally now under construction!
5. M4 Newport. The Newport section of the M4 motorway is badly congested on a daily basis, caused in part by a dual 2-lane section where the motorway tunnels under Brynglas. The M4 in the region has a large number of junctions which lead to it being a heavy commuter road, rather than the long distance route that motorways are supposed to be.
   Open Road is campaigning for the proposed M4 Relief Road to be built. This would take a new motorway around the south of Newport acting as a bypass for the current route.
   Status: The Welsh Assembly has agreed to build the road, but as a Tolled motorway. We say, the motorist already pays petrol tax and Severn Bridge tolls, so this would be a triple whammy!
6. A303. The A303/A30 runs between the M3 and M5, providing a strategic connection from South London to the South West. However, it currently consists of a mixture of dual and single carriageway sections; and the single carriageway parts are dangerous and congested.
   Open Road is campaigning for the whole route to be upgraded to dual carriageway.
   Status: The government has agreed that the upgrades are necessary, but the most important first stage of a Stonehenge Tunnel has been postponed pending a cost review. We say, the Stones and the local residents of Winterbourne Stoke deserve a break!
7. A66. The A66 is another strategic route that consists of several single carriageway sections. It runs between the A1 at Scotch Corner and the M6 at Penrith. Again, the single carriageway parts are dangerous and congested.
   Open Road is campaigning for the whole route to be upgraded to dual carriageway.
   Status: The government has agreed that the upgrades are necessary, but are not forthcoming with any funding; therefore the project is on hold.
8. M6. The M6 between Birmingham and Manchester is extremely congested day in, day out and has a poor accident record. It is currently only 3 lanes from the M5 junction in Birmingham all the way up to Manchester. The M6 Toll has only made the problems worse.
   Open Road is campaigning for a new motorway route to be built to carry traffic between Birmingham and Manchester.
   Status: The government has agreed to widen the road to 4 lanes each way, however it is not due to start construction until at least 2012.
9. A1. The A1 between London and Newcastle is a mixture of motorway and standard dual carriageway, including several roundabouts. The northern section between the M1 and Newcastle is particularly congested. The Bedfordshire section is a substandard road cutting straight through the towns of Sandy and Beeston, as well as having several sharp turns and speed limits.
   The A1 between Newcastle and Edinburgh is mostly single carriageway, and has an appalling accident record.
   Open Road is campaigning for the A1 to be upgraded to dual 3-lane motorway between the M25 and Newcastle, and to 2-lane dual carriageway between Newcastle and Edinburgh.
   Status: The government has agreed to upgrade the northern section and some is already under construction. However, the date for the rest has been pushed back; and there are no plans to upgrade the sections south of Doncaster. We say, this whole route is long overdue an upgrade!

10. A417: The A417 is an important route that, in combination with the A419, connects the M4 at Swindon to the M5 at Gloucester. It is all dual carriageway, except for a short 4-mile section of single carriageway near the village of Birdlip. This causes significant congestion and accidents.
    Open Road is campaigning for this section to be upgraded to dual carriageway.
    Status: A study on this stretch of road reported back in 2003 recommending that the gap was dualled. The government has not made any funding available to construct the improvement until at least 2016.

Other Important Schemes

There are several other road schemes which are also important, but didn't quite make it into the Top 10. So, we'd like to give an honourable mention to:

• A27: improving the south coast route between Portsmouth and Hastings to fully dual carriageway standard
• A21: dualling the two single carriageway sections near Tunbridge Wells
• A505: Bypasses for Dunstable, Luton and Hitchin relieving the towns of through traffic and providing a decent route from the A5 to A1(M).
• A42: upgrade to motorway standard between the M42 and M1.
• A64: dualling from York to Scarborough
• M8; the completion of the M8 motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
• A523/A555/A6: The SEMMMS road scheme to bypass congested towns and villages south-east of Stockport and relieve busy sections of the M60 and M56
• A new Western Bypass motorway for the Birmingham conurbation, to link up the M42 with the M6 Toll, and significantly reduce congestion and accidents on the M5/M6 in Birmingham.

Finally, while this page largely just covers nationally important road schemes, there are several smaller scale bypasses needed for towns and villages that are vital to enhancing the quality of life for local residents, and Open Road backs all such schemes.

If you know of a road scheme that should be added to this page, please send us an e-mail.