PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
A303: Road Traffic (13 November 2015)

The Government announced in December 2014 that we intend to upgrade all remaining sections of the A303 between the M3 and the A358 to dual carriageway standard, together with creating a dual carriageway link from the M5 at Taunton to the A303, as part of a long-term commitment to creating a new Expressway to the South West. We intend to start this process with three major improvements, as part of a total A303 / A30 / A358 corridor package of commitments worth £2 billion:

• Amesbury to Berwick Down
• Sparkford to Ilchester
• A358 Southfields to M5 Taunton

After previous attempts to improve the A303 have been shelved, the Government is determined to finally deliver this scheme.

Information on the future level of traffic on the A303 was published in the A303/A30/A358 Corridor Feasibility Study published in February 2015 (at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-investment-strategy#feasibility-studies).

The study did not identify separate figures for Chicklade at this early stage of development. However, the study provides projections for 2021, 2031 and 2041 for the corridor between the A350 and A36 which includes Chicklade.

The study includes the cost of the whole A303 route improvement. The dualling of the A303 from Wylye to Mere was investigated in the study as two separate schemes: Chicklade Bottom to Mere with an estimated cost of between £199m to £293m; and Wylye to Stockton Wood. There is no separate estimate for Wylye to Stockton Wood.

Due to the early stage of the schemes development it is too early to provide estimates of traffic noise and pollution in Chicklade from the proposed dualling the A303 at Stonehenge.