9:34am Thursday 11th March 2010
By Stephen Bailey
THE sheer size of the seven-month long rebuilding of Dorset’s busiest road was laid out at a public meeting last night.
The A338 into Bournemouth will be closed to one lane from September in both directions, and up to 200 anxious people turned up to see how they could be affected.
Dorset County Council’s project manager David Diaz was invited to speak to residents living around St Leonards after they were hit with preparation work. He told the audience that traffic would be offered diversions onto A-roads like the A31 but some drivers would still use the lanes around their homes.
Resident David Williams said to “hear hears” that the recent work on the grass verges showed reducing the A338 to one lane would be a “complete and utter disaster”.
Mr Diaz said it was impossible to build an extra lane because the A338 was flanked by sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Dorset County Council is betting on getting a £26m grant for the roadworks but plans to “push forward” with the work even if it doesn’t.
The meeting heard the A338 was built at the end of the 1960s with a 20-year lifespan and costs £1m a year to repair.
The council decided it could no longer delay work to the six-and- half-mile stretch between Ashley Heath and the Cooper Dean roundabout.
It will hear on March 25 if it will get the government funding. If it doesn’t, it will try to get funding from elsewhere.
Mr Diaz said: “We have done so much preparation work that we say now is the time to push forward.”
His models indicate a fifth of 59,000 vehicles that use the road daily will seek alternative routes. The council is also considering temporary speed limits on the A338 of 40 or 30mph.
Matchams Lane, Hurn Road and Christchurch Road are already being repaired over seven weeks from March 1 to make sure they can cope with extra traffic during A338 works.
Residents also said the work to clear the grass verges has removed a natural sound barrier. Sheila Young said: “Many people have already lost the sale of their houses because of the noise.”
Mr Diaz said the new road surface would reduce noise and he would take on board the suggestion of artificial sound barriers.
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