A350 improvements

The A350 Chippenham dualling

Swindon and Wiltshire’s Local Economic Partnership (LEP) has set out a vision to improve transport in the county, and has secured funding through the Government’s Growth Deal to dual the A350 Chippenham Bypass i.e. making the section of the A350 north of Chippenham from Badger Roundabout to Chequers Junction into a dual carriageway. This is being completed in several phases:

Jacksom Lane to Badger roundabout – complete in 2014 (through Local Pinch Point Funding. More information is on Wiltshire Council’s website).
Brook Roundabout to Bumpers roundabout – due to start from 6th June 2015 to early 2016. Please read our FAQ and more information is available here.
There are outline plans to begin work to dual the remaining sections of the A350 from Badger Roundabout (Morrison) to Checkers Roundabout (A4) in 2017.

The A350 is the key route from the M4 motorway into Chippenham and also forms the Chippenham Western Bypass (West Cepen Way). The current bottleneck at Chippenham causes significant delays during peak hours to cars and goods vehicles driving into the town and for people driving from the south of the county to the M4 corridor. The scheme will reduce congestion across Chippenham and around the bypass which will result in reduced vehicle emissions and increased reliability for all vehicles including buses. This will also improve the viability of employment sites in the town.

A350 West Ashton/Yarnbrook improvements

This scheme comprises:

Construction of 2.5km of new carriageway, including a link to the Yarnbrook Roundabout (overall the A350 Yarnbrook and West Ashton Relief Road is 2.1km from end-to-end);
Conversion of West Ashton signals to a three-arm priority junction;
Existing A350 to be stopped up and landscaped at both ends;
Stopping up of the ‘old’ A350, whilst maintaining access to properties via the West Ashton junction; and
Three new roundabouts:
- R1 – connecting with the existing A363 Westbury Road east of the railway bridge by means of an at-grade roundabout junction;
- R2 – providing a link to the south into the existing A350 between Yarnbrook and West Ashton, and into Ashton Park to the north;
- R3 – intersecting the existing West Ashton Road with an at-grade roundabout junction.

The scheme is expected to:

Reduce traffic queues and delays on the A350 corridor at West Ashton and approaching Yarnbrook Roundabout by 2026;
Improve journey time reliability on the A350 corridor;
Facilitate housing and employment growth in the Ashton Park Urban Extension through addressing known and forecast congestion pinch-points at West Ashton and Yarnbrook by 2026; and
Reduce the number of road accidents in the Yarnbrook and West Ashton areas by 2026.

More information is available here.