Highways Agency

• A500 basford hough shavington bypass
• recent activities
• recent activities
• Executive summary
• 1. introduction
• 2. data collected
• 3. summary of results
• 4. conclusion

A500 Basford, Hough, Shavington Bypass

2. Data Collected

A500 BASFORD, HOUGH, SHAVINGTON BYPASS

1. This Traffic Impact Study (TIS) for the Bypass involved consideration of data collected from the following sources:
   • Four existing Highways Agency Automatic Traffic Count (ATC) sites;
   • One new Highways Agency ATC site;
   • Five temporary Cheshire County Council ATC sites;
   • Four existing Cheshire County Council ATC sites;
   • Two Atkins commissioned ATC sites; and
   • 'Before' and 'After' Journey Time surveys.
2. Details of the surveys are below.

AUTOMATIC TRAFFIC COUNTS

3. Traffic data has been taken from three sources:
   • Cheshire County Council sites;
   • Permanent Highways Agency count sites; and
   • Surveys commissioned by Atkins.
4. This data has enabled Atkins to monitor the effects of the scheme opening on other routes in Cheshire and assess the strategic impact of the new bypass.
5. Cheshire County Council Sites:
   • Existing A500 (two sites);
   • A534 Crewe Road (two sites);
   • B5071 Crewe Road (two sites);
   • A5020 Weston Road;
   • C521Rope Lane; and
   • C841Newcastle Road.
6. Highways Agency Sites:
   • A500 - one site on the bypassed section and one to the east of the new scheme;
   • M6 north and south of junction 16; and
   • Two new sites on the A500 Basford, Hough, Shavington Bypass (after data only).
7. Atkins also commissioned two automatic traffic count (ATC) surveys in May and June 2003. Data was collected at:
   • Old A500 (C841) between Shavington and Hough villages; and
   • Old A500 (A531) near Weston.
8. The scheme itself opened on Thursday 22nd May 2003. The count equipment was connected on 7th May and continued until late June to incorporate the scheme opening day and the weeks before and after opening. It was decided that this longer than usual data collection period would enable the unusual traffic flows on May bank holidays and during the schools' half term break to be discounted.
9. There are now two permanently monitored count sites on the new road but due to technical issues one of the sites was only connected on 9th June, over two weeks after opening, and the other (easternmost) counter not until late July.
10. Some roads in the vicinity were not included in the survey specification, as it was not feasible to survey every road. A judgement as to which roads were to be included in the survey was taken by Atkins, in consultation with local knowledge provided by Cheshire County Council.
11. The locations of all of these ATC sites are shown in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 - Locations and source of ATC Information

JOURNEY TIME SURVEYS

12. Journey time surveys were undertaken for morning (7:00am - 9:00am) and evening (4:30pm - 6:30pm) peaks as well as the inter-peak period (9:00am - 2:00pm).
13. 'Before' surveys were undertaken in mid May 2003, and the 'After' surveys were carried out post-opening of the scheme in June 2003.
14. Journey time surveys were commissioned on 3 existing routes plus the new road as follows:
    1. Blue Route - Old A500 existing road through Shavington and Hough from east end of new bypass (A500/A5020 roundabout) to roundabout of A534 with A500;
    2. Red Route - Existing A5020 / A534 route through Crewe - same start & end points as (i);
    3. Brown Route - B5071 Crewe (roundabout by railway station) to Shavington (junction with old A500); and
    4. Green Route - New route A500 Basford, Hough, Shavington Bypass, same start & end points as route (i).
15. These routes are shown in Figure 2.2 below.

Figure 2.2 - Routes for Journey Time Surveys