Couple more A30/A303 memories (sorry if this nostalgia is a bit self-indulgent and semi off-topic!): Early Assessment and Sifting Tool Forms (PDF) (Report). Wiltshire Council. 2013. p.11 . Retrieved 19 August 2016. Improving journeys to the South West - The case for the A303/A358 corridor (PDF). Highways England (Report). 2018. p.7 . Retrieved 6 December 2021. Tom is a good travelling companion, informed, inquisitive and interested. It is also difficult to guess what his opinion is going to be before he has given it. One clear exception to this is the years of Thatcher's government which he views with something close to clear eyed hatred. The A303 was created on 1 April 1933 as the "Alternative London – Exeter route" after the Ministry of Transport realised the New Direct Road was still useful as a major road for motor traffic. The route created a long bypass for sections of the A30 that ran south of it. [c] [18] [20]

A report from the NAO cast doubt on the whether the project would ever represent value for money. The independent parliamentary body responsible for auditing government departments questioned the government’s cost-to-benefit ratio methodology used for evaluating the worth of infrastructure projects.Some long distance (as well as local) traffic still uses the A30 for the same reason, particularly traffic originating at Yeovil, Sherborne, Shaftesbury and even Salisbury. This ought to go A3088/A303 but I bet most of it stays on the A30. The A358 upgrade is justified in its own right as part of a decent route from Taunton to Yeovil and ought or proceed on that basis (but I doubt it ever will). The original routing of the A358 in 1922 was from Taunton to Ilminster and then onto Yeovil via what is now the A303 and A3088. That was in those days and is currently the major traffic flow on the Ilminster Bypass, athough it probably wasn't in the 70's and early 80's. There has been massive growth in the size of places like Taunton, Yeovil, Chard and Ilminster in the last few decades- Yeovil now has a bigger population than Salisbury. I have looked at an upgraded A30 as a fantasy roads project. As far as i can see it would need several bypasses to get around the towns, with varying degrees of difficulty (Yeovil and Salisbury would be the worst). But i think the towns would be the easy bits as there are several 'open country' sections that would require extensive off line upgrades to bring them up to modern D2 standard. The section between Salisbury and Shaftesbury would be the hardest to do i think and would need an offline section some distance to the north of the present road. Much as we complain about it, thank goodness for the A303 i'd say. That said it would be an interesting exercise to imagine the A303 didnt exist and come up with a alternate time line/history for upgrading the A30. A303: 'Death trap' the locals shun". Western Morning News. 23 November 2014 . Retrieved 19 August 2016. [ permanent dead link] So that solves that mystery. But it also presents a challenge: Can you find the keystone with the initials HRH 1847?

Using the road as the framework for this book works well in two out of three ways. Firstly it's a travelogue, of course, describing the geography and the monuments and the buildings. It's a history too, and that's interweaved with the landmarks and brought to life with some very interesting potted biographies. A303 (Stonehenge Scheme)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 5 July 1967 . Retrieved 19 August 2016.Personaly i think it was a mistake to redirect the A30 up to Bullington Cross. Having a third A road joining there has meant the junction has needed to be over complicated to accomodate the A30. If left on it's old route the A30 would have been kept out of the way and join the A303 at its own junction. Bullington Cross GSJ could have been much simpler as a result. Stonehenge plan would close main road". The Times. 18 January 1985. p.3 . Retrieved 19 August 2016. Once in Dorset, I travelled on the A30 between Yeovil and Sherborne a couple of times. This 5 or 6 mile stretch is a good and 'fun' section of DC to drive on and is virtually the only DC on the A30 between the A34 and Upottery (the part which plays 'second fiddle' to the A303). Does anyone know the origin of this DC (I can't see anything on Roaders Digest / Wikipidea)? Was this the beginning of the dualling of the London - Penzance trunk route before they decided to move trunk status to the A303, or is it simply dual because the towns it connects are so close together? I would though prefer to keep the A303 and align it with its modern origin as a turnpike era "expressway" bypassing Salisbury, Shaftesbury, Yeovil, Crewkerne and Chard, by extending the A303 to the A30/A35 junction at the east end of the Honiton bypass which would become the A30/A303/A35 junction, as this is a stonesthrow from the west end of the Ilminster and Honiton turnpike which is where the A303 began in the turnpike era when it was built as the "New Direct Road" to Exeter.

The A303 is a trunk road in southern England, running between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon via Stonehenge. Connecting the M3 and the A30, it is part of one of the main routes from London to Devon and Cornwall. It is a primary A road throughout its length, passing through five counties.It will take a very special effort by the [DfT] to protect public value up to completion,” he added. I wish one could somehow 'swap' it with the S2+1 Ilminster bypass a few miles west, where D2 IS needed, while S2+1 (or WS2) would be more than enough for the A30 between Yeovil and Sherborne! Concerns mount over plans for two-mile road tunnel past Stonehenge". The Guardian. 2 April 2019 . Retrieved 11 March 2020.