Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

Table 3.1 - Traffic Volumes across the A10 corridor

3.6 From Figure 3.2 and Table 3.1 it can be clearly seen that:

• There is an approximate 8% increase in traffic along the corridor between Ware and the A10/A120 roundabout after the opening of the bypass; and

There is some indication that flows south of the bypass on the corridor comprising of the A10 and A1170 approaching Moles Interchange have increased by 18%.

3.7 This higher increase compared to the increase in flows on the bypass and bypassed villages is likely to be due to the creation of an interchange between the A10 Southbound carriageway and A1170 at Moles Interchange, resulting in some re-routing of traffic travelling Southbound towards the A602 on the A10 from the A1170.

3.8 Count data from six of the outer lying sites are shown in Table 3.2 below. It should be noted that traffic at some of these sites is likely to be influenced by factors other than the bypass.

Table 3.2 - Outer lying Count Site Data

3.9 Counts on the A10 at Hay Street and on the A10 South of Ware show an 8% increase in traffic which is similar to the growth observed along the corridor between Ware and the A10/A120 roundabout. As these count sites are more likely to be influenced by other factors than the bypass, it is possible that traffic growth has increased along the A10 in this area for other reasons and therefore the observed traffic growth along the bypassed corridor may not be wholly attributable to the opening of the bypass.

3.10 The counts indicate that traffic on the A1184 which runs parallel to the A10 remained steady, whereas A414 Eastwick Road which links Harlow and Ware has seen a 10% increase in traffic. The count at Dassels Hill shows a decrease in traffic, indicating that the bypass has not encouraged any re-routing of traffic through the villages of Hay Street and Green End to access the A10.

Vehicle Classification

3.11 Based upon the classified data it is possible to determine whether in addition to any changes in traffic flows in the study area, the proportion of HGV's has changed, i.e. whether the number of HGV's have decreased by a greater proportion than the total traffic. For the classified data obtained from the Manual Turning Counts, HGV's have been classed OGV1 and OGV2 combined.

3.12 Table 3.3 shows the percentage of traffic which is HGV. The sites on the A10 and A120 suggest small decreases of approximately 0.5% in HGV's through the corridor between Ware and the A10/A120 roundabout, but the percentage of HGV's through Wadesmill, High Cross and Colliers End has been reduced from between 8%-10% to 4%-5%, indicating that the bypass has clearly been successful in re-routing HGV's out of these villages.

Table 3.3 - Proportion of HGV's through the A10 Corridor

Journey Times

3.13 In order to look at changes in journey times, data collected in June 2002, as part of the 'Before' surveys, has been compared to data collected in 2nd November 2004. The 'After' study also included a route carried out using the new bypass.

3.14 A table of results splitting journey time surveys by the 8 designated timing points on the A10 through Wadesmill, High Cross and Colliers End is included in Appendix B.

3.15 Table 3.4 below compares the new A10 route travel times (between the Standon Hill roundabout to the A1170/A10 intersection North of Ware) with the equivalent journey on the old A10 route timed before the A10 bypass was open.

Table 3.4 - Comparative 'Before' and 'After' Journey Times

3.16 The table above highlights a best journey time saving of 6 minutes in the PM peak Southbound, with savings of between 1.5 and 2 minutes for Northbound flows and for AM peak and inter-peak Southbound flows.

3.17 Table 3.5 below compares the journey times on the original A10 route via Wadesmill, High Cross and Colliers End, 'before' and 'after' the bypass was opened.

Table 3.5 - Comparative 'Before' and 'After' Journey Times on the old A10

3.18 With the exception of PM Peak Southbound flows, journey times have increased along the old A10. These journey time increases will be as a result of speed limit reductions on the old A10. The speed limit through the village centres have been reduced to 30 mph, and the remaining lengths are 40 mph, with the exception of the stretch between High Cross and Colliers End, which is 50 mph.

Journey Speeds

3.19 Table 3.6 compares speeds 'Before' on the A10 through Wadesmill, High Cross and Colliers End and 'After' on the A10 Bypass.

Table 3.6 - Comparative 'Before' and 'After' Journey Speeds

3.20 The journey time surveys show that for vehicles using the A10 bypass, journey speeds have increased between 21 kph and 44 kph, compared with using the old A10 before the construction of the bypass.