National Highways has launched a consultation for the upgrade of the A358 in Somerset.
The planned upgrade of the A358, a key route linking the south west and London and south east, will see a single lane stretch of carriageway between the M5 at Taunton and the Southfields roundabout, upgraded to dual carriageway.
The proposed scheme would considerably benefit road users, local communities and businesses.
Katherine Liddington, Senior Project Manager for the A358 scheme, said: “We plan to build approximately 8.5 miles of new dual carriageway, which will considerably improve road safety, reduce traffic congestion and improve connectivity for road users and local communities, while unlocking economic growth in Somerset and beyond.
“Since announcing our preferred route for the project in 2019 we have been working to refine the preliminary design for the new road. We’ve made some improvements to our proposals, which will improve access safety to local roads and reduce the impact on communities, the environment, and the local landscape.”
Rebecca Pow MP added: “The A358 upgrade has been a long time coming and a great deal of progress has been made to reach this stage.
“It is as important as ever that the A303/A358 corridor is improved as this is vital to unlocking the region. I hope as many people as possible will take part in the consultation.”
In delivering the scheme, the aims are:
- improve the capacity of the road to reduce delays and queues that occur during peak hours and at key times of the year i.e. the height of summer.
- support economic growth, facilitating growth in jobs and housing by providing a free-flowing and reliable connection between the south east and the south west
- make the road safer, by providing additional capacity and reducing driver stress. We’ll also improve routes for pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders in the area
- protect the environment and look for opportunities to improve it, minimising any unnecessary impact of the scheme on the surrounding natural and historic environment and landscape
- work with local communities to reduce the impact of the road, and look for ways to improve local people’s quality of life
- make journey times more reliable and resilient; by providing more capacity it will become easier to manage traffic when incidents occur
Paula Hewitt, Somerset County Council’s Lead Director for Economic and Community Infrastructure, said: “The A358/A303 is an incredibly important main transport artery for Somerset and this major project is vital for future growth in the county.”
The consultation runs until Monday, 22 November 2021 with feedback helping National Highways develop its planning application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to be submitted next year.
A DCO is required for all nationally significant infrastructure projects and will allow for the Planning Inspectorate to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who will decide on whether development consent should be granted for the proposed scheme.
