IS £22m repair for Spur Road back on the cards? (From Thisisdorset)
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IS £22m repair for Spur Road back on the cards?
8:56am Wednesday 13th February 2013 in Latest
IS £22m repair for Spur Road back on the cards?
BOURNEMOUTH’S “worn out” Spur Road could be repaired at last if a bid for government funding is successful.
Dorset County Council hopes £22million plans to repair the dual carriageway – one of the county’s busiest roads – will be approved.
Up to 60,000 vehicles use the road each day and the council hopes it will qualify for part of the government’s £170million Local Pinch Point Fund to remove bottlenecks in areas where traffic problems are impeding growth.
In order to qualify for funding, local authorities must pay at least 30 per cent of the cost, so Dorset plans to contribute £6.6million.
Highways chiefs know they are up against it to secure the bid.
The Department for Transport has already advised local authorities that there will be a presumption against bids over £10million, unless they are of “truly exceptional value.”
Most schemes are likely to fall into the category of small schemes, requiring funding of between £1million and £5million.
If funding is granted, the work must be completed within two years.
The six-mile stretch between Cooper Dean and Ashley Heath was due a major makeover in the autumn on 2010 but the government pulled the plug on funding at the last minute.
Funding was withdrawn despite the road being described as “worn out” by Dorset highways chiefs.
By then £1million had already been spent on preparatory work, including six months’ of clearing verges and removing rare sand lizards.
At the time the council considered ploughing ahead with the scheme using loans and grants but decided it was impossible due to budget cuts.
The Spur Road scheme is the number one priority in the funding bid but applications will also be made for two other areas.
Dorset council will also ask for around £2.5million for improvements to the Chapel Gate and Hurn roundabouts and £1.7million for the A3066 Beaminster Tunnel.
Cllr Peter Finney, Dorset’s cabinet member for highways and transportation said: “If we get the funding it will prevent an awful lot of expenditure in a piecemeal fashion.
“We would have to repair it in patches which is more costly and causes more disruption.
“We hope to be able to do the work in one go and the A338 is our top priority.”
Comments(34)
awsokend
says...
9:56am Wed 13 Feb 13
£10 x 60,000 a day
dirt cheap.
speedy231278
says...
9:58am Wed 13 Feb 13
Redgolfer
says...
10:03am Wed 13 Feb 13
awsokend wrote:So now we go for ''if you have the money then you can use the road'' what happens to the road fund licence money that we pay every year and if not paying to use the road are we to go back to using Matcham's Lane as the main road to Ringwood like back in the old day's and I take it that awsokend does not use the road or live round here.
Make it a toll road
£10 x 60,000 a day
dirt cheap.
rayc
says...
10:26am Wed 13 Feb 13
awsokend wrote:How does making it a toll road fit in with the statement:
Make it a toll road
£10 x 60,000 a day
dirt cheap.
"Up to 60,000 vehicles use the road each day and the council hopes it will qualify for part of the government’s £170million Local Pinch Point Fund to remove bottlenecks in areas where traffic problems are impeding growth."
Would a toll contribute to growth or impede it still further?
l'anglais
says...
10:28am Wed 13 Feb 13
awsokend wrote:Fool
Make it a toll road
£10 x 60,000 a day
dirt cheap.
Increase Income Tax by 1% for all inhabitants of the conurbation of Poole and Bournemouth.
Even if you don't use the road, you benefit from the deliveries made by all the HGV's that create the problem.
BmthNewshound
says...
11:07am Wed 13 Feb 13
l'anglais wrote:What a stupid comment. People in the south contribute more to the exchequer than those in other parts of the UK. Higher wages mean higher income tax, higher house prices mean more stamp duty and more inheritance taxes etc. However, with the exception of cross-rail in London the government spends more in the north, and go across the border into Scotland and you'll be hard pressed to find a major road in such a poor state of repair as the Spur Road.
awsokend wrote:Fool
Make it a toll road
£10 x 60,000 a day
dirt cheap.
Increase Income Tax by 1% for all inhabitants of the conurbation of Poole and Bournemouth.
Even if you don't use the road, you benefit from the deliveries made by all the HGV's that create the problem.
.
If you're suggesting that taxes collected from residents in Dorset should be spent in Dorset then that is something I do support.
contric
says...
12:03pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Gastines3
says...
12:23pm Wed 13 Feb 13
muscliffman
says...
12:30pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Back then I recall an expensive scheme intended to save 'protected' wildlife from the noisey resurfacing process was carried out - including the removal of countless shrubs and trees and erection of a (miles) long black 'bin-bag' type low fence.
This seems to have been a waste of public money, with even some experts confirming that the 'protected' wildlife would have found it's own way to safety by natural instinct anyway.
But it also amounted to nothing less than an act of gross vandalism to the natural and mature environment well established beside the road. In my view these actions all but destroyed everything they were supposed to be conserving!
Not again. Stick to fixing the road this time, thank you.
The irate commuter
says...
12:54pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Months & months & months of gridlock with an incompentant workforce knowing nothing on how to manage traffic, not having the intelligence to work at night, wasting millions on trying to protect some reptiles with a pathetic barrier
or
put up with a few holes in the road for the forseeable ???
I will continue to vote for holes in road please !!
ianbthomson
says...
1:08pm Wed 13 Feb 13
The irate commuter wrote:I have to say that I am with you. It will be an absolute nightmare for months. I travel up the road every day and it seems fine to me.
ohhhh jeez !!! Just forget about it !
Months & months & months of gridlock with an incompentant workforce knowing nothing on how to manage traffic, not having the intelligence to work at night, wasting millions on trying to protect some reptiles with a pathetic barrier
or
put up with a few holes in the road for the forseeable ???
I will continue to vote for holes in road please !!
The incompetence of our Council will ensure that it drag on and on
ianbthomson
says...
1:12pm Wed 13 Feb 13
How can something that cost so much money has not made any real improvements. Indeed, the junction is still being affected by traffic backing up to it from the nearby Merley roundabout.
Scoty2hotty
says...
1:50pm Wed 13 Feb 13
How can it cost £1million to lay down some bin liners and pegs? its all blown down now anyway so it would never of lasted during the construction phase anyway!
djkent
says...
3:35pm Wed 13 Feb 13
l'anglais
says...
3:37pm Wed 13 Feb 13
contric wrote:How much Tax do you pay exactly?
l,anglais and awsokend what sort of people call for the paying of more tax when so much of what we pay is wasted now
Check out how much of your and your neighbours Council Tax payments contribute to the budget of your local council. 20%
You are subsidised, so why should the richest in the UK pay for your roads.
P Barker
says...
3:47pm Wed 13 Feb 13
contric
says...
3:56pm Wed 13 Feb 13
l'anglais
says...
4:13pm Wed 13 Feb 13
contric wrote:The difference between a person involved in manufacturing / landlord and a banker is what exactly?
being a landlord and with other investments i do pay a lot of tax but unlike the arrogant l,anglais i was in manufacturing thus a wealth creator unlike people in banking that manipulate wealth
Both attempt to manipulate their prospective markets to extract the maximum profit, exploiting the masses.
Now, if you had the same property in London rather than Dorset you would be paying higher taxes, so your point is what precisely?
awsokend
says...
4:36pm Wed 13 Feb 13
the toll road at £10 or£12 is very reasonable
go for it.
GAHmusic
says...
5:29pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Gastines3
says...
5:32pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Hessenford
says...
6:11pm Wed 13 Feb 13
awsokend wrote:Sounds good to me, lets all use Matchams lane again, there were fewer accidents along there than there are on the spur road.
Bramble bush ferry charges me £12 per mile
the toll road at £10 or£12 is very reasonable
go for it.
Phixer
says...
6:28pm Wed 13 Feb 13
awsokend wrote:Pardon?
Bramble bush ferry charges me £12 per mile
the toll road at £10 or£12 is very reasonable
go for it.
You pay for the toll road from Studland to Shell Bay which is a bit over 2.5 miles. Are you saying that you pay £30 every time you cross on the ferry?
Silly boy!
Tripod
says...
7:35pm Wed 13 Feb 13
The only long-term answer is to reduce the weight of traffic regularly using the road.
fossilmole
says...
8:23pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Maybe then this 'white elephant' would start to be worth something.
Oh..and we could add the £2.50 drop-off/pick-up charge for the airport onto the toll these folks are keen to vote into being.
corozin
says...
8:42pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Is our local paper staffed by complete monkeys?
corozin
says...
8:46pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Tripod wrote:And how are you going to do that exactly?
Whatever they do it'll need re-doing in 10 or 20 years, the road was never designed (or built) for the weight of traffic currently using it; to fix it properly would require a complete rip-up and re-build, and that ain't going to happen.
The only long-term answer is to reduce the weight of traffic regularly using the road.
I guess we need a motorway then...
GAHmusic
says...
8:52pm Wed 13 Feb 13
corozin wrote:That's not the Upton bypass it's the aproach to the Cooper dean roundabout on the wessex way
According to the photo used by the Bournemouth Evening Echo, the Spur Road is so broken it's started to look like the Upton Bypass...
Is our local paper staffed by complete monkeys?
awsokend
says...
9:50pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Phixer wrote:Its one third of a mile sweetheart.
awsokend wrote:Pardon?
Bramble bush ferry charges me £12 per mile
the toll road at £10 or£12 is very reasonable
go for it.
You pay for the toll road from Studland to Shell Bay which is a bit over 2.5 miles. Are you saying that you pay £30 every time you cross on the ferry?
Silly boy!
Yankee1
says...
12:08am Thu 14 Feb 13
If need be, make it a toll road. Use transponders so that locals can have a reduced rate. Then use every penny to upgrade the road.
Avengerboy
says...
12:15am Thu 14 Feb 13
Baywolf
says...
7:41am Thu 14 Feb 13
BIGTONE
says...
8:02am Thu 14 Feb 13
uvox44 says...
9:12am Wed 13 Feb 13