Highways England has said The Planning Inspectorate has accepted its planning application for the A417/A419 upgrade between Gloucester and Swindon.
The A417/A419 upgrade scheme will be an alternative to the M5/M4 route via Bristol.
The ‘missing link’ as it is called, is a 5km stretch of single-lane carriageway on the A417 between the Brockworth bypass and Cowley roundabout in Gloucestershire. This causes significant congestion for road users who then often divert onto local roads, which causes other problems.
Plans for works include 5.5km of new dual carriageway, connecting the existing A417 Brockworth bypass with the existing A417 dual carriageway south of Cowley with the section to the west of the existing Air Balloon roundabout would follow the existing A417 corridor. This means the section to the south and east of the Air Balloon roundabout would be offline, away from the existing road corridor.
There will be a new junction at Shab Hill, providing a link from the A417 to the A436 towards Oxford and into Birdlip. There will also be a new junction near Cowley, replacing the existing Cowley roundabout connecting the existing A417 between the Air Balloon roundabout and the Cowley roundabout repurposed – some lengths of this existing road converted into a route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, while retaining other sections to maintain local access for residents
