Plans to dual the A500 between Meremoor Moss roundabout and the M6 are back under review after the cancellation of the HS2 high speed railway.
Cheshire East says it is hoping to modify its plans for the dualling of the section in response to the decision to axe the HS2 section between Crewe and Birmingham.
The authority was granted planning permission in February last year to upgrade a section of the A500 from Meremoor Moss Roundabout to the roundabout at junction 16 of the M6.
The business case was strongly linked to the Government’s proposed investment in HS2 and its services arriving at Crewe Railway Station.
The project was also included in the Department for Transport’s “Major Roads Network” programme and provisionally allocated a grant of £55.1m.
HS2 had agreed to pay towards the upgrade as it would help to accommodate construction traffic.
But following the cancellation of the northern sections of HS2, CEC’s highways and transport committee will now consider a report that recommends the development of an updated business case for the A500 scheme.
It will focus on improving access to Crewe Railway Station from the A500 while keeping the key aim of the original scheme – to resolve congestion by upgrading the Meremoor Moss Roundabout and the approaches.
Following publication of the Government’s “Network North” plan, it’s hoped a revised A500 scheme could remove the need for the council to contribute up to £34.4m towards the total cost, which is included in its current medium-term financial strategy.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council’s highways and transport committee, said: “The council remains committed to the A500 dualling, and the recommendations being put forward to committee mean that delivering the existing scheme would still be possible if more funding became available.
“But the Government’s decision to cancel the northern sections of HS2 has hugely affected our ability to secure grant funding for its delivery.
“Recent discussions with the DfT have suggested that the council should prepare an updated business case for the A500 scheme, the development of which they are prepared to fully fund.
“It is thought that by refocusing our plans, we can maximise Government investment in Cheshire East in the absence of HS2 and deliver greater transport and regeneration benefits compared to the existing scheme – at less cost to the council.”
If approved by committee, this would allow a modified scheme to remain on the Major Roads Network programme and progress towards full Government funding.
Cllr Goldsmith added: “Another advantage of refocusing our plans is that following the Network North announcement by Government, it is expected that this would ultimately result in a significant improvement to our current capital budget position, with additional Department for Transport funding.”
The report to committee on April 4 also includes recommendations to withdraw a compulsory purchase order and side roads order for the existing A500 scheme, pending the development of the new business case.
(pic by Google Maps)
Completely agree with JMF. Traffic from M6 -A500- A51 towards M56 is already a massive issue and has been mentioned HGV drivers use the aforementioned as a quick route to the M56. Without question many speed along the A51 past Snugburry and along the A51. No regard for peoples safety and it’s a question of when not if a major incident will happen.
Dualling that last section of the A500 will result in even more traffic/lorries on Nantwich by-pass, which is already overloaded. We don’t want to encourage any more vehicles to take a short cut from the M6 to N Wales along the A500 and A51. So I am not in favour of the upgrade, put it back in its box!
Does it really need dualling? There are only a few times of the day when its a problem at each end of the singl carriageway sections. The rest of the time, its fine.
All that dualling will do is pile the traffic faster to the Nantwich end of the system, when they meet the Cheerbrook r/bout and its single carriageway from there on.