Will these improvements not just move the ‘bottleneck’ of traffic further south towards Derriford?
The Woolwell to The George scheme will remove an existing bottleneck, reducing queuing on this section of the northern corridor. The work we have done during the project development stage has shown that this scheme will result in significant improvements in journey times and reliability with additional benefits for walking and cycling.
With limited funding available, interventions need to be carefully focussed on the areas where they can have the greatest impact.
Feasibility work in 2012 indicated that removing the merges at The George Junction and at Woolwell Roundabout resolved the pinch point and therefore further widening south of The George was not required within the life of the Joint Local Plan up to 2034.
However, this does not preclude other schemes coming forward if they are required in the future and the operation of this part of the A386 will be reviewed as part of the development of any future local planning policy assessments.
Won’t more signals just slow down traffic?
Traffic signals are being installed to allow vehicles to safely enter and exit Woolwell Crescent, while also minimising the amount of traffic queuing back onto Woolwell Crescent and the roundabout.
The signals will also benefit bus users as they will improve journey times and reliability. Buses will be able to directly enter and exit Woolwell avoiding Woolwell Roundabout.
This new signalised junction at Woolwell Crescent will remove a large amount of traffic from the new signalised junction that will replace Woolwell Roundabout and help with the capacity issues there.
We understand that adding more traffic lights isn’t to everyone’s liking but it allows us to efficiently manage traffic flow.
What are you doing for pedestrians?
A new crossing point will be provided for pedestrians at the new Woolwell Crescent junction. This will allow people to cross the Tavistock Road dual carriageway without using the footbridge, improving access for all, including those with for pushchairs and wheelchair users. The new crossing will provide alternative access to local amenities, such as Tesco, from the western side of Tavistock Road.
The existing crossing on Woolwell Road will be relocated slightly further north and upgraded to a toucan crossing.
New, and improved wider footways that meet Local Transport Note (LTN) 1/20 government guidance for the design of new infrastructure will be introduced on both sides of Tavistock Road.
Signalised crossings will be created on Tavistock Road (near the footpath to Frensham Avenue), at the new signalised junction that will replace Woolwell roundabout (on Tavistock Road and Woolwell Road) and on Woolwell Road (close to the pedestrian access to the Tesco car park).
What are you doing for cyclists?
New segregated cycle lanes will be created on Tavistock Road. Cyclists heading into Woolwell from this area will be able to use a new toucan crossing on Woolwell Road.
Shared paths will be introduced on both sides of Woolwell Road.
New, and improved wider cycle facilities that meet LTN 1/20 government guidance for the design of new infrastructure will be introduced on both sides of Tavistock Road.
Will the construction works cause serious disruption and even more delays?
This is a very busy corridor and, unfortunately, it is not possible for us to deliver work on this scale without causing disruption. With limited road space and no practical alternative routes, the aim is to complete the works as quickly and safely as possible while minimising disruption as much as we can.
The scheme will improve the resilience of the transport network in this area by delivering additional road capacity and a new route in and out of Woolwell (via Woolwell Crescent). We know that delays due to roadworks can be frustrating but we are grateful for your patience and are working hard to reduce the impact of our construction works as much as possible.
Why have you banned the right turn at Woolwell Roundabout?
The right turn from Tavistock Road into Woolwell Road (at Woolwell Roundabout) is temporarily banned to all traffic except buses and emergency vehicles.
This is to ensure that southbound traffic, which has been reduced to one lane, can flow more freely without having to give way to right-turning traffic at the roundabout. Instead, there is a short diversion north to Belliver Roundabout, where vehicles will be able to turn around to enter Woolwell Road from the southbound direction.
This is significantly reducing queues that would otherwise have been caused on the A386 back towards Dartmoor.
Can taxis and motorbikes turn right at Woolwell Roundabout?
No. The right turn from Tavistock Road into Woolwell Road (at Woolwell Roundabout) is currently banned to all traffic except buses and emergency vehicles.
How are you stopping general traffic turning right at Woolwell Roundabout?
The road markings have been changed to show this as a bus lane and signs have been installed to make the new restrictions clear. A camera was installed at the roundabout on Thursday 23 January to enforce this restriction, as monitoring by the project team and reports from the public showed that it was being ignored. It will remain in place throughout the scheme and drivers are reminded that entering the bus lane risks a penalty charge notice of £70.
Are any bus routes going to be impacted during construction?
There are no planned changes to bus routes but some bus stops will be suspended to allow the works to be constructed safely. The traffic management has been developed to minimise disruption as much as possible, particularly for emergency vehicles and buses. Buses will be allowed to continue to turn right into Woolwell Road from Woolwell Roundabout as they currently do despite this movement being banned for other vehicles during construction.
Will there be a dedicated bus lane after the work?
Phase 2 includes widening Tavistock Road between Woolwell Roundabout and The George junction to allow two lanes in each direction. Buses will benefit from this extra capacity, meaning a dedicated bus lane is not required.
The scheme will improve bus journey times and reliability by reducing congestion.
Can I still get to Tesco during the construction works?
Yes. Access to all businesses, including Tesco, will be maintained throughout construction, although some diversions might be in place as part of the overall traffic management. Traffic will still be able to exit right from Tesco towards Woolwell.
How will my business get deliveries and my staff get to work?
Access to all businesses will be maintained throughout the works. While there might be some diversions in place, there are no planned restrictions for deliveries.
Signs will be in place to remind everyone that businesses are open as usual.
This is a very busy corridor and the scale of work means that disruption is unavoidable. The traffic management aims to ensure that the work is completed as quickly and safely as possible. Drivers are advised to adjust travel times and consider working from home when possible.
Businesses concerned about the impact on their operations or staff should email us at [email protected]
How will emergency services (for example ambulances to Derriford Hospital) be impacted by the work?
We know there will be disruption while we complete these works and we have carefully considered how we manage traffic to try to limit that as much as possible.
The traffic management has been planned to keep traffic flowing as much as we can. Some drivers will have to use diversions to access Woolwell but this significantly reduces congestion along the main Tavistock Road corridor and means better access to and through the area for emergency services.
Emergency services will be allowed to continue to turn right into Woolwell Road from Woolwell Roundabout as they currently do.
We are liaising with the emergency services and Derriford Hospital to keep them informed of the works.
Will the arrangements at the Park and Ride change during the construction?
There are no changes to the Park and Ride arrangements during the first phase of works. Detailed traffic management plans will be developed when we are ready to start construction of phases 2 and 3 so we will be able to share details closer to the time. The Park and Ride is an important part of the transport infrastructure on this corridor and we will work hard to ensure the ongoing operation of the site throughout any works as far as possible.
Why has congestion got worse since February?
There has always been congestion along this route at peak times (before work began) and, unfortunately, it is not possible for us to deliver improvements on this scale without causing disruption. This is the only route in and out of the north of the city, which is exactly why it is so important to improve it.
Before starting work in September, we modelled various traffic management options to assess their impact and agree the best solutions during the various stages of work.
During the first stage of traffic management (September to February) traffic flowed far better along Tavistock Road than we expected. Since the changes in February, queuing is more in line with what we had expected to see from the start. It is difficult to establish an exact cause of the increased queuing on and around Belliver Roundabout and the merge onto the inbound side of Tavistock Road.
The merge has been a pinch point since the start of works and we have had ongoing problems with traffic backing up from here, made worse by drivers not using both lanes. Before Christmas, this was causing traffic to build up on the roundabout and along Tamerton Road but we moved the merge point in January to provide more space for traffic to get in lane and this alleviated things.
The only change we made in February was the closure of the Woolwell Crescent junction and reopening of Woolwell Road, which means all traffic from Woolwell now enters Tavistock Road at Woolwell Roundabout, rather than Woolwell Crescent. However, there is a designated lane for this traffic and we are not seeing much congestion at that location.
No changes were made to the merge from Belliver Roundabout so the reasons for the recent issues there are unclear. However, observations on site suggest that drivers are still not using the full extent of both lanes, which clearly does not help as it quickly causes queuing back to the roundabout.
We have also noticed that the high demand and ‘call’ timing at the pedestrian crossing at Woolwell Roundabout has been affecting traffic flow. Traffic is in a single lane at that point and it doesn’t take long for queues to form when it has to regularly stop for crossing pedestrians.
What is being done to alleviate the recent queuing?
We have made the call timings of the pedestrian crossing a little longer so that traffic isn’t having to stop as frequently, which has improved things. However we have to balance these adjustments to ensure that pedestrians can still safely and conveniently cross the road at this location and don’t take dangerous risks.
We considered placing additional cones along the merge from Belliver Roundabout to force vehicles to use both lanes but this would introduce a new potential hazard on the road and would still rely on traffic giving way.
We are continuously monitoring traffic flow and the impact of our traffic management and reviewing all possible options throughout. As and where can make improvements to the arrangements, we will.
Why not reopen the right turn into Woolwell Road?
It is important to remember there has always been congestion along this part of Tavistock Road at peak times but, clearly, the works are having an additional impact.
The queuing at Belliver Roundabout is caused by inbound traffic having to merge into one lane on Tavistock Road. Most of this is traffic heading into Plymouth from the Dartmoor and Tamerton directions but we appreciate that diverted traffic accessing Woolwell Road is adding to this pressure.
However, we do not believe that reopening the right turn into Woolwell Road would improve the situation. In fact, it would make things much worse because inbound traffic, which is now down to one lane, would have to give way to a steady flow of right turning traffic at Woolwell Roundabout.
Currently, traffic from Dartmoor does not have to give way to the diverted Woolwell traffic at Belliver Roundabout. Woolwell Roundabout is significantly smaller than Belliver Roundabout and provides much less opportunity to ‘stack’ traffic, meaning the impact of queuing would be substantially worse and quickly affect the whole network.
Modelling of the traffic management before we started works in September showed that, without the right turn ban, traffic would queue back to Yelverton. As well as the inconvenience this would cause to general traffic, congestion on this scale would have a significant impact on buses and emergency services.
The right-turn ban reduced this queue by half, indicating it would be closer to Clearbrook at busy times. While traffic modelling is not an exact science, it is an important tool to help us assess the impact of changes to the road network. We know that it is inconvenient but the right turn ban is needed to reduce the impact on journeys along this whole corridor.
We could remove the new free-flow exit from Woolwell Road and go back to a give way arrangement to improve the flow of soutbound traffic but we have not taken this forward as it would make it very difficult for vehicles to exit the Woolwell area and we continue to try to balance the impact of the works on all routes.
Could you just reopen the right turn at peak times?
Peak times are when we have the most traffic on the roads and, therefore, when measures to manage traffic flow are needed most.
There is a steady demand for vehicles to turn right into Woolwell Road so southbound traffic would be forced to constantly stop to give way.
The amount of traffic travelling southbound at peak times means that queues would quickly back up across Dartmoor, to a much worse extent than we are currently seeing.
The work we have done predicted that keeping the right turn in place would double the length of the queue across Dartmoor, causing significant disruption for general traffic and unacceptable delays for buses and emergency services.
What are you doing to help traffic exit from Tamerton Road?
We are aware of delays on Tamerton Road as vehicles find it difficult to get gaps allowing them to enter Belliver Roundabout.
We have put a number of measures in place to improve things at this location including a new ‘keep clear’ area on the roundabout and cones on Belliver Way to ensure access isn’t blocked by parked vehicles.
In January, we also moved the merge point on Tavistock Road (southbound) to give traffic more space to be able to get in lane. We have put up additional signs to remind drivers to use both lanes however observations on site suggest that there is still poor use of this extra capacity and we would encourage everyone to use both lanes especially when traffic is queuing.
We could put temporary traffic signals on the northbound approach to Belliver Roundabout, which would create gaps for traffic to enter the roundabout and may also improve the flow of traffic coming from across Dartmoor. However we have not taken this option forward as it would create queuing on the wider road network (particularly northbound), which would also affect vehicles using the diversion to get to Woolwell.