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A303 Stonehenge (incorporating the Winterbourne Stoke Bypass) Preferred Route Announcement June 1999
A303 Stonehenge (incorporating the Winterbourne Stoke Bypass) Preferred Route Announcement June 1999
Background
In July 1998 the Government announced in "A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England" that the A303 Stonehenge improvement, incorporating the Winterbourne Stoke Bypass, would be developed as an "exceptional environmental scheme". The scheme is a central element of the Government's proposals set out in the Stonehenge Master Plan which include the removal of traffic from the area of the Stonehenge monument by use of a 2 km tunnel and the re-creation of its unique landscape. The scheme would also remove main road traffic from the community of Winterbourne Stoke.
Proposals for the improvement of the A303 Trunk Road between Amesbury and Berwick Down, including the section past Stonehenge and a bypass of Winterbourne Stoke, have been the subject of extensive study and consultation since 1991.
These include:
- 1991 to 1993 - Initial route identification and study
- 1993 - Public Consultation
- 1993 to 1995 - Alternative route identification and study
- 1995 - Planning Conference
- 1998 - New scheme incorporating a 2km tunnel announced by Government
The challenge has been to find an acceptable solution for the improvement of the section through the World Heritage Site past Stonehenge. In July 1998 the Government announced that this section would be dualled on the line of the existing road with the 2km section closest to the Stones placed in tunnel.
