Wiltshire Council's press release (extract)
£150m to be invested in two major road improvement schemes in Wiltshire
The government has announced its support to fund two major road improvement schemes in Wiltshire, the A350 Melksham bypass. The Melksham scheme, which is estimated to cost around £135m, will bypass the town centre and in turn resolve a critical pinch-point on the A350, improving north to south connectivity throughout the Western Gateway in the south west. It is a part of a package of road improvement measures that will improve the northern section of this north-south route.
.............."will bypass the town centre" ..........does this include the new, improved £3M Farmer's Roundabout ??
.............."improving north to south connectivity throughout the Western Gateway in the south west" ..........sorry, did I hear someone mention the Westbury bypass ?
I'm writing up some thoughts on public transport for the neighbourhood plan team today - coming somewhat as a follow up to the bus changes documented in other threads, but looking to make sure that stuff is forward looking. And those thoughts - an update on previous well-shared thoughts with the transport lead on the plan - do take into account a bypass to the east of Melksham.
The present "bypass" bypasses the Town Centre - however, it does run through the linear village of Beanacre, and the northern 'burbs of Melksham where widening beyond one lane each way through a built up area would be rather difficult. And it does bisect the walk - of 7 or 8 minutes - from the Town Bridge over the river to the station, making the station feel "out beyond". Yes, it does also o through the Farmer's Roundabout which has been clogged this week with the Town Bridge half closed, and Bath's heavies diverted along this way due to a weight limit imposed on the link between the A46 and A36 there.
To the north, you have Chippenham, bypassed (and with its origins bypass absorbed into the town and a further bypass added) and the M4. To the south you have Trowbridge, county town, growing and growing and the A350 being already the best road to the motorway, but struggling.
Indeed to the south of there you have pinch points at Yarnbrook and Westbury before you hit the Warminster bypass; from there the A36 heads off south east to Salisbury and Southampton and the A350 carries on into Dorset and Poole.
I don't think that "Westbury Bypass" as an idea is going away any time soon. You have one element suggesting that so much work was done on an eastern route passing between the town and the White Horse that it should be carried on with, and another element suggesting that a link road for the West Wilts Trading Estate area broadly alongside the main railway line makes the most sense - but it strays briefly into Somerset, which is not part of the Western Gateway.
