Brian Hunter from Oulton parish council next to the Millenium Way roundabout where the Lowestoft Northern Spine Road will join.
Picture: James Bass
Lowestoft spine road plans are revealed
By Anthony Carroll
Friday, March 1, 2013
6:31 AM
Plans have been unveiled for the final phase of a long-awaited northern spine road for Lowestoft which will seek to reduce traffic on the busy A12 Yarmouth Road and A1117 Bentley Drive.
The plans drawn up by Suffolk County Council will go on public display in Lowestoft Library next week.
The new road will run as a single carriageway between the Millennium Way/Bentley Drive roundabout and the Corton Long Lane junction on the A12.
By seeking to take through traffic away from the town centre, it is hoped it will help reduce the number of accidents in the area and also mean fewer vehicles travel through Oulton.
Brian Hunter, Oulton Parish Council chairman, was pleased to see the spine road should help guide traffic away from the B1375 Gorleston Road-Oulton Street, and Bentley Drive.
“Although this is long overdue we welcome the news of the spine road,” he said.
“It will be great relief to the people living in Bentley Drive and to those living in Oulton, especially in Oulton Street. There is just too much traffic going down there and it will go a long way to help with that by assisting with the traffic flow.”
Motorists will be able to travel at 40mph on the new spine road – which is 10mph faster than on Yarmouth Road – and there will be a signalled junction where it meets the A12 at Corton Long Lane.
There are also plans for a junction onto Blundeston Road and an off-carriageway route for pedestrians and cyclists.
As the county council owns the land earmarked for the spine road, it will have to submit a planning application to itself for approval. It is hoped that work will start late next year and be finished by the summer of 2015. Once completed, it could also see the A12 re-routed away from the town centre.
In a statement about the design of the spine road, the county council said: “Its main benefit will be to remove a significant volume of traffic from Bentley Drive – a road which carried a flow of traffic it was not designed for.
“This will make it easier for pedestrians to cross Bentley Drive and residents to turn into and out of estate roads.
“The number of road traffic collisions on Bentley Drive and its roundabout with the A12 are expected to be reduced with lower traffic flow.
“The new road will also help make possible the re-routing of the A12 away from the centre of Lowestoft.”
The plans for the final phase of the northern spine road will go on show in Lowestoft Library at a public exhibition next week, with officials on hand to answer any questions.
It runs on Thursday from 2pm to 7pm, next Friday from 9am to 1pm, and from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, March 9 and Sunday, March 10.
The design work for the new road also involved Chelmsford-based Aecom and the Landscape Partnership.
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7 comments
The new spine road plans . I could not believe what I was seeing THE JUNCTION WITH A12 opposite Corton long lane with TRAFFIC LIGHTS!!!!!!! You must be joking .How are traffic lights going to cope with this volume of traffic? Why did the new road not extend to the roundabout at Rackhams corner taking traffic straight to Yarmouth? I shall be visiting library next week to get some questions answered HOPEFULLY
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Gary
Saturday, March 2, 2013
BlueRobin is quite correct - Seems the idea now is to use Oulton Broad as the Western Bypass for Lowestoft and to make it permanent by re-re-routing the A12 officially over Bridge Road. Guess this solves the problems of the Bascule Bridge holding up the traffic flow. Now, all we need to worry about is the Trains going though to Norwich 4 times an hour... Makes the Southern ReliefSpine road fairly redundant now. And who thought it'd be a good idea for "a signalled junction where it meets the A12 at Corton Long Lane."? Traffic lights at the end of the dual carriageway? That will really help the flow, right?
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greemble
Friday, March 1, 2013
What happened to the contra flow system and intelligent lights that were supposed to be put up years ago?. Nothing. What difference will this new half baked idea make when the bridge still goes up and down at peak times to let dinghies in and out? Nothing.
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kevin bacon
Friday, March 1, 2013
Would be better to spend the money putting in the approach roads for the third crossing. Locally this road will make no real difference except for Bentley Drive and Tescos maybe.
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Dave01
Friday, March 1, 2013
Through traffic as it stands is routed through Oulton Broad and not the town centre, this new road will make it easier for traffic to take that route, most of the traffic in the town centre is local traffic anyway. Going forwards I take it the new A12 will be Millenium Way, Peto Way, normo. Drive, Bridge road and Elm Tree road. FACT: Traffic delays wont go away from the town centre for as long as people dont consider alternatives for their short journeys that dont essentially require a car, even if there was a 3rd bridge time to wake up and smell the coffee.
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BlueRobin
Friday, March 1, 2013
Keep traffic away from the town centre? Last time I looked Lowestoft bridge is slap bang in the town centre! If Bentley drive is considered un-suitable for this kind of traffic I would say Denmark Road is even less so. I travel along it most days and 2 lorries coming towards each other make a tight squeeze and its not going to help traffic flow in any way shape or form, the hold ups will still remain just as they always have!
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ollie
Friday, March 1, 2013
Nice idea for bentley drive, oulton village and yarmouth road residents but avoiding the town??. It still leads to the brigde will now put even more traffic on denmark road which is not sutiable for this type of traffic and leads to the town centre. I know the whole well it will lead to the 3rd crossing will be put about in it somewhere when (More likely IF) its built
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SIRWolfe
Friday, March 1, 2013