Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

The Project

The A38 Trunk Road links mid-Cornwall to Plymouth and is one of only two trunk road routes to Cornwall. Between Plymouth and Liskeard the A38 is high standard dual carriageway over much of its length. However, at Dobwalls the trunk road was a single carriageway, with an additional lane only on the short, uphill section on the eastern approach to the village.

The traffic levels experienced on the A38 through Dobwalls caused congestion that was not only inconvenient but had a serious adverse effect on the village environment, causing community severance and noise pollution. In addition to the congestion and environmental effects, this section of the A38 had an accident rate that was above the national average for this type of road.

The bypass of Dobwalls has reduced traffic through the village by about 90%. This is  securing substantial improvements for the majority of residents by alleviating the current congestion and consequently reducing severance. There will also be an improvement in safety.

An aerial view of the bypass is available by using the link at the bottom of the Contact Information and Map page.

Work started on 15 November 2006 and the bypass was fully opened to traffic in December 2008. Work continued on the completion of the A390 and the other side road links to Dobwalls village. These were completed at the end of March 2009. Landscape planting was also completed.

One Year After Opening Study

As part of our ongoing programme of Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) this scheme has been reviewed at one year after opening.  The study compares the outturn effects of this scheme to the predicted impacts.

A summary of the one year after report is available to download here: 

A38 Dobwalls POPE Study - Summary (PDF 46KB)

A full version of the report is available to download here:

A38 Dobwalls POPE Study - Full Report (PDF 2MB)