Highways Agency

The A 419/A417 Trunk Road route runs between Junction 15 of the M4 near Swindon and Junction 11A of the M5 on the outskirts of Gloucester. The route is a strategic link in the Highways Agency's core network and is heavily utilised and congested.

The route has been the subject of a programme of road improvement in recent years and is now dual carriageway for much of its length. Major junctions in the rural areas are generally grade separated although there are some at grade roundabouts, notably at Commonhead Junction to the east of Swindon and at Turnpike to the north east of Swindon.

Public Consultations were held in July 2000 to seek information, and in July 2001 to obtain views on the package of options developed.

85% of the responses received were in favour of the package of options that included a proposed bypass at Blunsdon. The Preferred Route for the Blunsdon Bypass was announced in April 2002.

In August 2003, the Highways Agency appointed Alfred McAlpine as the Contractor with Mouchel Parkman as their Designer and Nicholas Pearson Associates as Environmental Consultants to take the scheme foward under an Early Contractor Involvement Contract. WSP continued their work as advisor to the Highways Agency.

The scheme has been developed and alternatives assessed. The alignment has been designed to reduce the amount of material excavated, address concerns of the local community and minimise the disruption to traffic during construction. The environmental design includes ground modelling, provision of noise barriers and planting.

Public Information Exhibitions and meetings have been held with local interest groups during 2004.