Cedars roundabout – Barnstaple
Update 24 April 2024
A section of Bickington Road will be closed overnight to allow new ducts to be built across the road, where the width of the carriageway will not permit the works in be carried out in two-halves.
Work is due to be carried out with the road closed from 6.30pm to 6.30am between Monday 29 April and Friday 03 May 2024.
It is intended that the noisiest operations (such as saw cutting) will be done before 11pm, but work will continue beyond this time and therefore residents whose properties back onto Bickington Road may experience some level of disruption during these nights.
Bickington Road will be closed between its junction with Ellerslie Road (to the west) and Cedars Roundabout (to the east), with all other manoeuvres at the Cedars roundabout being open – including access into the Cedars Inn from the south and east. Residents who live in Ellerslie Road will be able to access their homes from the west (i.e. from the Fremington direction) as normal, however, access from the east will need to be via Woodville and Crosslands.
A fully signed diversion will be in place while the road is closed, via the A39 and the Westleigh Junction. By law, the Council has to sign diversion routes on the same category of road as the road that is closed, but local road users may decide to use alternative routes.
During the daytime, work will continue at Cedars roundabout under temporary traffic lights.
In addition to the closures of Bickington Road, further closures will also be required on the A3125 (southern arm of the junction) later in the programme for resurfacing.
BUS ROUTE
During the road closure, all 21/21A services will be operating a normal route from the Bus station to Cedars roundabout, then services will divert along the A39 to Westleigh Junction where they will join the normal route again for onwards service into Bideford. The same diversion will be completed on inbound journeys into Barnstaple.
A shuttle service will be provided for all passengers wishing to travel on services and require stops between Ellerslie Road and Bideford Quay. The service will operate from the bus station then divert through Woodville coming out at Ellerslie Road then operate a normal route for 21 services into Bideford.
The service will be operating from 18:30 until 23:00 from the bus station and 23:30 from Bideford.
Update 29 February 2024
CCTV cameras have now been installed at the site to both help traffic light operatives monitor traffic on all approaches to the roundabout and help keep the workers and travelling public safe. Where appropriate these will be used to pass information to the police about vehicles jumping a red light. Members of the public can also report red light jumpers to the police with dashcam footage to Operation Snap (www.dc.police.uk/opsnap).
On Monday 19 February 2024 at approximately 0930 some works started on the A39 using temporary traffic lights. These works were for the creation of a hardstanding area near to the variable message sign between Roundswell Roundabout and Lake Roundabout. The works were programmed to take place between 0930 and 1530 only, and originally without using temporary traffic lights, just narrowing both lanes of the A39 to create a safe working area. These works were outside of the ‘embargo’ area for the Cedars scheme created by our co-ordination team, however, clearly this is a road on which there should be no traffic lights as a main diversion route away from the Cedars Roundabout. Officers quickly made arrangements for these works to stop and be rescheduled for the future. The works at Bishops Tawton Roundabout for tree cutting were not taking place on that day, but resumed the following day with minimal delay to traffic using stop/go boards to control traffic for up to 90 seconds while trees adjacent to the road were felled.
There were some failures of the temporary traffic lights at the Cedars Roundabout on Friday 23 February and that weekend. The signal heads have since been replaced to work on a different frequency, and the controller unit replaced with one that allows the signal operatives to control the lights using a hand held device. Operatives therefore do not need to be stood on site at the control box for the entire time.
Update 8 February 2024
We have listened to feedback from local people and the police and to further help ease congestion we are temporarily opening the bus only road between Old Bideford Road and Brannum Crescent to all traffic. This route will be one-way only (towards the industrial estate).
The significant delays seen over the first few days of the works have eased, particularly from the Bickington/Fremington direction in the morning, and bus services are generally running on time.
However, there are still some delays, particularly in the middle of the day, and we are doing everything we can to remedy this, including using multiple operatives at the traffic lights.
We have concerns that some drivers are putting workers and other motorists at risk by jumping red lights and we are considering installing CCTV cameras to both help traffic light operatives monitor traffic on all approaches to the roundabout and help keep the workers and travelling public safe
What we are doing
Work is taking place to build a new pedestrian crossing down the hill from the Cedars Roundabout. This will not only help people cross the road here, it will be linked to sensors in the road on the Fremington side of the roundabout. This is hoped to help reduce the queuing at this roundabout for drivers coming from the Fremington direction but have to give way to traffic coming from Roundswell.
These works are expected to be completed in June 2024.
The works being undertaken include:
- widening of the southern arm of the roundabout to accommodate the new staggered signalised crossing
- realignment of the existing hedgebanks reusing the existing stone
- provision of new street lighting, road markings and signs
- installation of traffic sensors in the road
- relocation of utility company pipes and cables
More information on the location of the works can be found via one.network.
Traffic management
The majority of the work will be carried out using temporary traffic lights at the roundabout, although there will be occasional overnight road closures (6:30 pm to 7:00 am) for approximately 15 nights throughout the duration of the scheme to enable certain elements of work to be undertaken safely.
Bridge Civil Engineering Ltd will carry out the work on behalf of Devon County Council.
Following the removal of ten trees from the site last year arrangements have been made with North Devon Council for 30 new trees to be planted in suitable locations nearby.
Background to the scheme
The improvement scheme for the Cedars Junction was approved by Devon County Council’s Cabinet in March 2022 (Item 126 and report).
Prior to this the North Devon Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC) considered various options at their meeting on 29 June 2017, and subsequent meetings in June 2019 and November 2021.
Funding of the scheme
Funding has been secured from numerous housing developments in this area towards this work and discussions have been ongoing for years about what improvement should be made. The above decision has been made, and this scheme is progressing and will be paid for entirely with money from the house-building companies, this isn’t money that can be used on other things.
Contact
For further information please contact DCC-Cedars-Roundabout@wsp.com
FAQs
- Why are we doing these works?
For many years traffic from the Bickington/Fremington corridor entering the Cedars Roundabout has been subject to delay in entering the roundabout due to priority being for traffic from the A39 south and Roundswell, turning right into Barnstaple. In addition, traffic can queue back from the Wrey Arms junction and block the exit from the roundabout.
Over 1300 houses are planned/expected to be built in the current Local Plan period, to 2031, along this corridor. This is predicted to add traffic through the Cedars Roundabout as there is no major alternative route to drive to Barnstaple without heading towards Bideford to come back to Barnstaple on the A39. Alternative modes of transport are available, but the no.21/21A bus (up to 4 buses per hour) and other bus services on this corridor have no priority above other vehicles on this corridor and sit in the same traffic and delays as all other vehicles.
North Devon HATOC considered options for the improvement to Cedars Roundabout in June 2017 and chose to progress the scheme now for consideration. In February 2019 a trial of the scheme was undertaken with temporary traffic signals positioned on the A3125 south of the roundabout which turned red periodically. The results of the trial were presented to North Devon HATOC in June 2019 and showed a reduction in average journey times for vehicles entering the roundabout from the west from the Bickington/Fremington direction and also from the south from the Roundswell direction.
In November 2021 North Devon HATOC approved that the scheme progress and the current scheme was approved by Devon County Council’s Cabinet in March 2022.
- Why can’t the works be done overnight?
Carrying out the works at night was considered when planning this work but was not the chosen method due to disruption to nearby residential properties and the need for traffic lights to be in operation during the daytime as well as at night. The works require closure of one lane for most of the entire programme which would not be safe to have open to all traffic outside of working hours.
- Why are the works taking 20 weeks?
Due to the small size of the site it is hard to use any more than one gang of workers and work needs to be carried out in a specific order, with limited opportunity for multiple activities to be happening at the same time. Works can only occur on one side of the road at a time to allow the road to remain open to through traffic.
Additionally there is a need for three different utility companies to work in the same verge area.
Telecoms ducts need to be lowered as these are too shallow in the verge and will be within new layers of road construction. These ducts contain fibre optics which can not be jointed in the same manner as traditional copper wires, and so a greater length of fibre optics need to be replaced.
Electric cables need to be ‘moved’ into the new verge, and a gas main under existing reinforced concrete needs to be lowered.
- How are the traffic lights controlled?
The temporary traffic lights should be manually controlled by a person at the site, this person is monitoring the lengths of any queue through the day, aiming to balance any congestion and reduce impacts on the A39. Manual operation will be in place between 6.30am and 6.30pm. This was originally 7am to 7pm, but due to queues forming before 7am we have revised these timings.
Further amendments are being looked at so that the lights can be manually operated between 6am and 7pm.
Traffic light operators do require occasional breaks, and for short periods of the day the operation may not be manually controlled. Operatives may also not be seen if they are checking the traffic conditions on the approaches to the works. Mobile devices can also be used by the operative to check live traffic information.
Due to the replacement pedestrian crossing by Sticklepath School, there may be times when all of the traffic lights are red, to allow people to cross the road safely.
- Why are the workforce looking at their mobile phones?
The contractor operates a paperless system with many of the design drawings and specifications provided in digital format and workers often refer to mobile devices instead of paper based plans.
- How is the scheme funded?
The entire cost of the scheme is being paid for using money from nearby housing developments through ‘section 106’ contributions. This money can only be used for specific improvements and is not possible to be used for highway maintenance.
- Why hasn’t the ‘bus gate’ on Old Torrington Road been opened?
A great deal of consideration has been given to opening the bus only section of Old Torrington Road during the works at the Cedars Roundabout. Following discussions with the police it has been decided that for now this road will not be opened.
Opening this route to all traffic may result in safety issues as the ‘bus gate’ is not designed for significant volumes of two way traffic. It would also result in increased conflict between vehicles and people walking and cycling. There could also be further safety issues due to increased traffic at the junctions of Old Torrington Road with Shorelands Road and Old Torrington Road with the A3125 (Wrey Arms Roundabout).
If large volumes of traffic use Old Torrington Road towards the town centre, queues may also form back from the Wrey Arms Roundabout towards and through the Cedars Roundabout.