Highways Agency

• A3 Hindhead Improvement

A3 Hindhead Improvement

Scheme Milestones

A tunnel scheme in the corridor of the present proposals was announced in 1993, following extensive local consultation. Work began on a number of surveys and assessments to prepare firm proposals, but was then suspended in December 1995 due to a shortage of funds.

Between 1997 and 1998, the Government reassessed the scheme and requested a study to see if the economic and environmental benefits of the scheme could be delivered, in part, by tolls on the tunnels.

The study concluded that charging for the use of the tunnels would not be financially viable because significant amounts of traffic would divert onto unsuitable local roads.

The South East England Regional Assembly agreed with this and in February 2001 asked for the scheme to be included in the Government's Targetted Programme of Improvements for motorways and trunk roads.

On March 28 2001, the Government announced that the scheme was being added to the Programme, and the Highways Agency resumed preparations to select a contractor to complete the design, take the scheme through a Public Inquiry and then build it. Atkins were appointed to assist the Agency in their preparations.

Accordingly, on October 1 2002, the Agency awarded a contract to Balfour Beatty Major Projects, who have assembled an expert team, which includes Mott Macdonald as their design partners. Atkins continued to act as consultants to the Highways Agency. These four organisations form The A3 Team, which works in partnership to deliver the scheme.

The Agency's contract is a new "early design and build" style. Unlike earlier road building contracts, the contractor becomes involved much earlier in the life of the scheme, by being engaged to prepare the design and to assist with the statutory processes necessary for the Draft Orders and Environmental Statement. The advantages of this new style of contract are that it enables the design to be developed in the best way for efficient construction and the contractor is able to provide detailed information on how he would build the scheme.  Environmental issues surrounding the construction process can also be addressed with confidence.

The draft Orders and Environmental Statement were originally published in October 2003. A Public Inquiry was originally planned for June 2004. However, an alternative was submitted in response to the draft orders that removed the need for then planned Boundless Road junction especially now that the new junction at Thursley has been constructed. The Highways Agency considered that this alternative was to be preferred to the published scheme and therefore delayed the start of the Inquiry until September 2004 to allow time to republish proposals for the north end of the scheme on 19 May 2004. This included a revised Environmental Statement. The Public Inquiry took place between September 2004 to February 2005 and the Inspector’s report was submitted to the Secretary of State in August 2005

The scheme was originally planned to start in 2005/06 but in December 2004 the Government announced a review of its trunk road programme and the way it was funded. Trunk Roads and Motorways were divided up into routes of either national or regional importance using four criteria. The A3 was classified as a route of regional importance and the Hindhead scheme was reprogrammed to start after March 2008. As a regional scheme it is to be funded from a regional allocation within which the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) were asked to prioritise the schemes to be progressed. They advised the Government in January 2006 that they wished the A3 Hindhead scheme to be progressed as soon as possible within their funding allocation.

A decision on the outcome of the public inquiry was delayed while the Government considered the advice from SEERA. On 20 July 2006 the Secretary of State accepted the Regional Assembly's advice on priorities and Issued a "minded to" decision to go ahead with the scheme in line with the Inspector's report. recommendations, subject to a consultation on the new cost of the scheme which had risen significantly compared with that presented at the Public Inquiry. 

The decision largely confirmed the published scheme as promoted by the Highways Agency at the end of the public inquiry (including all the amendments the Agency asked the Inspector to recommend).  The two main changes which the Inspector recommended, and the Secretaries of State agree with are:

• The status of BOAT 500 should remain unchanged. (The Highways Agency's published proposals would have downgraded the status from Byway to Bridleway);
• A new footpath subway under the A3 should be provided at the northern end of the scheme (Objectors Alternative 21) to connect Footpaths 89, and 90.

On 27 October 2006 the Department for Transport published the Secretaries of State final decision on the draft Orders for the scheme confirming their "minded to" decision of 20 July 2006 and giving the go ahead for the scheme.

The Orders giving the powers to build the scheme were confirmed and published as follows:

• 9 November 2006 - Orders describing the route of the new trunk road, slip roads, sections of existing A3 to be "detrunked", and alterations to Side Roads;
• 16 November 2006 - the Compulsory Purchase Orders.

Work started on 7 January 2007.