https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwXWuxRXYrY&t=917s

Includes a guest appearance of the West of England Farmers silo tower at around 10:19.

Bath has shot itself in the foot with its Clean Air Zone not impacting on private cars. 

From the east and west, there are fast roads that take the traffic into Bath but then drops it right in the city centre where it needs to go to and from London Road to get out of the other side.

The following roads need to be improved or built to make Bath more car friendly, by taking through traffic away:

1. A36-A4 link.
2. Improved A46 to M4 J18, maybe an extension of the dual carriageway.
3. An A4 northern Bypass starting at the end of the Swainswick dual carriageway and going across to pick up the Keynsham bypass.  That way, tourist traffic from the M4 has a fast route in and will not clog up the London Road.

I know 3 may be far fetched but the only other option is A350 and M4.

With plans to  fully dual the A350 from J17 to Lackham, and the plans to reroute the A350 around Melksham, I was thinking about how it could all tie together. 

At Lackham Roundabout, the southbound A350 could project in a southbound direction, cross over "Easton Road" (the one from the A350 to the A4) in line with the railway, cross over Corsham Road and Folly Lane then curve to the left to rejoin the old/current A350 at a roundabout where it picks up the Melksham Eastern Bypass.

Both the Lacock and Melksham bypasses could be built to Dual Carriageway standards, either now or in the future and link up with a dualled Semington Bypass.

The only problem then is how to continue the road down to the West Ashton diversion and bypass Westbury, then down to an improved A303 junction.

It may be wishful thinking but with the current and proposed improvements in the pipeline, and the desire to make the A350 a north / south Expressway, it may not be so much of a fantasy.

I was thinking about what other services may be useful from Melksham and thinking the following:

"274" - Melksham - Shaw - Whitley - Corsham - Rudloe - Bath
"x35" - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Warminster - Salisbury
"x36" - Trowbridge - Melksham - Calne - Swindon

What are your thoughts?  I realise there may be little to no chance but would be interested to see what others think?

Interesting write up Graham. 

Please can you confirm what the numbers mean on the blue map, e.g. the 123 between Melksham and Chippenham?

in the section on double tracking you say: " Thingley junction where the camber of the main line would make a conventional double junction impractical without slowing London to Bristol expresses" Wasn't this achieved when the line was double in the past?  is it not just a case of reinstating the removed rails and switching on the main line?

I am also wondering what stopped the electrification outside of Chippenham as I am sure it was due to come up to Thingley Junction anyway?  I heard it was pressure from North Wiltshire residents but as no planning was required surely it would have been done no matter what?

With the "north" GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) line from Bristol Parkway to RWB being electrified as well as the mainline through to Paddington, whats happening with the cabling towards Thingley junction? 

As I understand it, Network Rail has permitted development rights to run the cabling along their land, but I heard that people near Chippenham put a complaint in and stopped the work?