Scheme Information

Scheme Information

Transport: 

Upgrading this stretch of road to a modern dual carriageway will:

• Reduce congestion and boost road safety by increasing the road’s capacity for free-flowing traffic and creating a high-quality strategic route
• Make it safer and easier for drivers, walkers, and other local road users to get around by reducing rat-running traffic from local roads. It helps nearby villages improve accessibility and safe links between local villages, towns, and cities, ensuring that communities and businesses are properly connected and enhance the environment, wellbeing in communities, and the economy
• Make journey times more predictable, reducing the cost and inconvenience of unexpected delays on businesses and other road users

Environment and heritage: 

Upgrading this stretch of road to a modern dual carriageway will:

• Improve landscape and ecological connectivity through landscape and habitat restoration and provision for crossings and culverts along the scheme
• Improve air quality in the area by reducing pollution caused by idling vehicles
• Reconnect habitats and making life safer for wildlife
• Meet our vision for a landscape-led scheme and conserve and enhance the area of outstanding natural beauty that the scheme runs through

Improving community life and access: 

Upgrading this stretch of road to a modern dual carriageway will:

• Ease local congestion and make it easier and safer for people to reach local facilities like schools, shops, and surgeries on foot by reducing rat-running traffic in neighbouring villages
• Reduce severance by encouraging the safe passage of people and enhancing the experience and safety of visitors to the area and locals alike
• Improve access to public footpaths, including the Cotswold Way National Trail and the Gloucestershire Way, helping more people to enjoy them safely
• Improve quality of life and encourage greater integration between town, village, and city life

Economic growth: 

Upgrading this stretch of road to a modern dual carriageway will:

• Support growth across the southwest region by making trips quicker, safer, and journey times easier to predict
• Enable businesses to move goods and services around more easily, and help staff get to and from work more quickly and safely
• Help boost productivity in the southwest through improved connections to other UK regions
• Further enhance the attractiveness of the Cotswold’s as a tourist destination and support the predicted growth in jobs and housing by increasing the capacity of the strategic road network.