Hereford Bypass Proposed Routes and River Crossings

[Hereford Voice]

Hereford Bypass proposed routes and river crossings video in full HD showing the proposed western bypass.

 

It is suggested that the bypass will include 6,500 new houses, 6,000 jobs, a new university and the expansion of the Hereford Enterprise Zone at Rotherwas.

 

The bypass will also include improving air quality, reducing HGV's vehicles travelling through the city, thus reducing congestion, encouraging walking, cycling, bus use and improving public space, reducing maintenance costs and improving safety on the A49.

 

The video also claims that once complete the bypass will reduce morning peak hour traffic on the A49 northbound by eight minutes and five minutes southbound.

 

The council has released a budget estimate with the most costly route listed as The Black 2 route at £135m to £140m. This is a preliminary estimate for the project.

 

The consultation exhibition is at Hereford library until March 20.

[Cloudberry]

Yesterday at a public meeting in Breinton, even Cllr Price admitted that a bypass will not reduce congestion.  (With so many new homes to be built, all generating more traffic, how could it?)

 

People are being conned. These claims that Hereford will be free of congestion and air pollution only if a bypass is built cannot be substantiated. 

 

Measures to encourage walking, and cycling, and improving public transport need to happen now,  not only AFTER a bypass is built, as is the current plan.

[herefordman75]

As I see it, they need to reduce the traffic in the city before they can introduce any sustainable means of transport. The only way to do this is to build a bypass/relief road or whatever it is called. Using the traffic counts from the dft website, nearly 45k vehicles use the Greyfriars bridge daily, if 15% of that is through traffic, then that would be 6750 less cars daily crossing at Asda roundabout - that's a lot of vehicles. This would then open up capacity for improvements in cycle lanes and bus lanes within the city.

[Cloudberry]

We need to address congestion and air pollution right now, yes? But you will have to wait up to ten years for all the negotiations and a bypass to actually be completed?  Just imagine what could be achieved to improve traffic flow in Hereford in other ways (much quicker, much more effectively, much cheaper) with £140million!

Spending £140 million on a bypass just to remove 15% of traffic from Greyfriars Bridge does not sound good value for money to me.

[Maggie May]

Looking at the still of the video at the top of this comment it appears that the different routes all pass through the area coloured red. Apparently that is all new housing proposed for the area through which this "bypass" goes.

Can anyone please explain, why is it called a "bypass" if it goes through a large new housing estate? Who would want to by a house right next to a 60mph(?) road or dual carriageway?

If this new road is to take 6,000 cars a day of the roads in Hereford why don't the Council build it well outside the residential areas.  It would also allow more homes to be built for future generations inside the road area over the longer term. 

[ragwert]

Herefordshire Council have decided to take the Red route for the by-pass meaning five houses will be demolished.

[ragwert]

My prediction for Fridays announcement by Herefordshire Council..The By-Pass will be cancelled .

[twowheelsgood]

Given that there has been a moratorium on planning decisions for any development in the Lugg catchment area since last October, due to saturation phosphate levels, and I understand that the Wye catchment will be added shortly, that effectively means the whole County give or take a few small areas will be a no-build zone for an unspecified period. As it would seem likely that those 6500 houses cannot be built for the foreseeable future, if ever, due to the unacceptable environmental impact on the River Wye, it begs the question as to how the Council would fund the bypass and if it is even needed in its proposed form. The only sensible solution is to cancel it and concentrate on traffic management in the City. We've seen just this evening what happens when the lights are out.

[ragwert]

21 hours ago, twowheelsgood said:

Given that there has been a moratorium on planning decisions for any development in the Lugg catchment area since last October, due to saturation phosphate levels, and I understand that the Wye catchment will be added shortly, that effectively means the whole County give or take a few small areas will be a no-build zone for an unspecified period. As it would seem likely that those 6500 houses cannot be built for the foreseeable future, if ever, due to the unacceptable environmental impact on the River Wye, it begs the question as to how the Council would fund the bypass and if it is even needed in its proposed form. The only sensible solution is to cancel it and concentrate on traffic management in the City. We've seen just this evening what happens when the lights are out.

it begs the question as to how the Council would fund the bypass
HIF (Housing infrastructure fund),we are getting a large slice.
Obviously if we don't go ahead with the by pass the HIF would be defunct.

[Cambo]

Will they won’t they lay the tarmac down for the new bypass?

if indeed it does get binned it still does not get away from the fact that Hereford needs at lest one new river crossing either east or west or both.

I’m not sure if this idea has been mooted before?

But as an alternative river crossing point on the west side if the western bypass is rejected? I believe that it would be possible to put a bridge with weight limits on & cycle lanes from the bottom of Beattie avenue To link up with Wordsworth road? 
 

a number of benefits would be a direct road link with Whitecross & Belmont the road would be a lot shorter in distance saving on cost compared to the western bypass...less loss of good agricultural land very few if any trees would have to be felled...so in all compared to the western bypass the detrimental impact to the landscape would far less.

 

 

 

[K.Butt]

21 minutes ago, Cambo said:

Will they won’t they lay the tarmac down for the new bypass?

if indeed it does get binned it still does not get away from the fact that Hereford needs at lest one new river crossing either east or west or both.

I’m not sure if this idea has been mooted before?

But as an alternative river crossing point on the west side if the western bypass is rejected? I believe that it would be possible to put a bridge with weight limits on & cycle lanes from the bottom of Beattie avenue To link up with Wordsworth road? 
 

a number of benefits would be a direct road link with Whitecross & Belmont the road would be a lot shorter in distance saving on cost compared to the western bypass...less loss of good agricultural land very few if any trees would have to be felled...so in all compared to the western bypass the detrimental impact to the landscape would far less.

 

 

 

This would be okay for cyclists with a weight limit but we still desperately need a vehicle river crossing able to take HGV's etc

[ragwert]

Still think we need the SLR.
 

[Cambo]

16 hours ago, K.Butt said:

This would be okay for cyclists with a weight limit but we still desperately need a vehicle river crossing able to take HGV's etc

Ok so your not against a river crossing going from Beattie Avenue & linking up with Wordsworth road? 
 

as for a river crossing taking HGV’s that could be done on the east connecting Rotherwas with the Worcester road?

 

the total distance for this two river crossing would be about 6.32 km which is half of the distance of the western bypass route 

 

obviously this is all hypothetical but if the western bypass is cancelled then the need is to look at alternatives river crossings?

[Denise Lloyd]

I read somewhere that 2 bridges are being considered - East and West

[ragwert]

On 19/01/2020 at 12:53, Denise Lloyd said:

I read somewhere that 2 bridges are being considered - East and West

East Bridge will end up somewhere around Hampton Park as it won't cross the Lugg flats so the locals will love that.