UK Government announcing new road widening programme

The UK Government looks set to announce a major programme of road widening and improvement work. In all some €19.1 billion (£15 billion) is planned to be invested in around 100 large road projects. One of the key projects planned is for a new tunnel on the A303, close to the famous Stonehenge site. The tunnel will measure up to 2.9km long and will carry four lanes of traffic past the Stonehenge site. This tunnel has been proposed and cancelled on a number of previous occasions and has long been recognised as being required. The existing route features a single lane in either direction and runs through a small village is utterly incapable of carrying current traffic volumes, which includes a high proportion of heavy vehicles. Because of the area’s archaeological importance, building a new road on the surface is not a feasible solution so the route will have to go through a tunnel. As the ground features a high water table and has faulted rock and clay, the tunnel will require extensive drainage solutions and will need to be heavily supported with reinforced with concrete, boosting its cost. It is for this reason that the project was previously cancelled. Other routes to be upgraded include the A1 north of Newcastle heading towards Edinburgh and the A27 on the south coast of England.