That Feasibility Study again...an up date!

If you're one who follows my posts, you will already have read....Meetings - B - Meetings from October last year which has had 54 hits......and we're still attending meetings even now, about what to do with the A303, how much will it cost, which section will be started first etc etc....
The latest Feasibility Study has been in progress since January 2014 with meetings held in Taunton on two occasions but without representation from anyone locally, including STAG....our Man on the ground having been put off in January when Dft promised to keep us up to speed with progress.   Another meeting took place on 24th May and we have to thank our MP John Glen johnglenmp.com for providing the relevant detail discussed.   This comes in the form of short slides allowing you to pick and choose those you may wish to query with Department of Transport's [mailto:Deborah.Lewis@dft.gsi.gov.uk]
All in all, very encouraging and this time, they have taken into account traffic flow on the A303 that has been missed on previous studies - i.e. the peaks at weekends and around public holidays and school holiday.

We at STAG have written to Dft as we had a few queries with some of the information on a few of the slides:

1) "CURRENT SUMMER MONTH STRESS"
we feel that the section of green line east of Amesbury should have been yellow.  We as locals know that the stress on this section of the A303 can go back as far as the A338 at peak times during the summer months.

2) "JOURNEY TIME RELIABILITY"
Since the closure of the A344 at Stonehenge, in our opinion, the whole measurement is well out for the section of A303 from A338 to Berwick Down.  Check out this blog for further knowledge of the area now.

3) "FATAL AND SERIO0US ACCIDENT LOCATIONS - UNIMPROVED SECTIONS:
Looking at the section in light blue for Stonehenge - Amesbury to Berwick Down, the graph appears percentage wise, to show that this 
section of the A303 on the face of it, is "safer" since the slice is narrower, perhaps giving the impression that....all's well and no need to do anything.   Everyone who has used this bit of the A303 during recent years, know that the traffic is either slow or stopped and therefore, accidents are less likely.

4) "CURRENT AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC FLOWS (October 2013)
We trust that whilst calculating the traffic flows on the A303, Dft will take into account "knock on effects" on local villages and towns.   "Rat Running" through this area to avoid the hold ups on the Stonehenge section of A303, could "muddy the figures".   The increased traffic causes extra "stress" in and around this area and
should be taken into account.  I quote here from my learn-ed colleague at STAG: "Clearly, use of these diversionary routes have an impact on the perceived congestion and stress on the A303 - effectively underestimating it.   They will also have an impact, social and financial, on the economic case that is being studied in the next phase of the study, and if they are ignored, risk underestimating the cost benefit of dualling the A303 along its entire length.