A30 Temple Improvements
The A30 Temple to Higher Carblake Improvement was a £60 million highway improvement scheme part funded by Cornwall Council and the Department for Transport.
The A30 trunk road between Temple and Higher Carblake was a 4.5km section of single carriageway and at peak times, the capacity of this section formed a serious constraint to traffic flow on the A30. This therefore had a detrimental effect on the Cornish economy and the often sever congestion would lead to poor journey time reliability, driver frustration, conflict and collisions.
The scheme upgraded the single carriageway to a dual carriageway standard through widening the realigning of the existing carriageway to provide additional lanes, central reservation and verges. To improve safety and accommodate the new alignment, the scheme also included the construction of three new overpass bridge structures to replace the existing at-grade crossing. This part of the work saw junctions removed in favour of the bridges and the number of direct private accesses onto the A30 reduced.
As part of the work, as it was in an environmentally sensitive area, full regard was given to ensure the new road fit into its surroundings and ecological enhancement and mitigation was designed as required.
It is understood that the greatest challenge during the design stage of the scheme was to design an alignment which minimised land take and minimised impact on the many constraints along the length of the route whilst meeting the necessary design safety standards. CEEQUAL was used from the outset as a tool to encourage sustainable thinking and to maximise environmental enhancement opportunities.
The total scheme length was 5.15km and was designed for Cornwall Council by CORMAC Solutions Ltd and was constructed by Keir.
As part of the project, P&D Specialist Services Ltd, experts in the design and build of temporary CCTV systems for the UK highways industry, successfully installed an off-grid power solution for PTZ CCTV cameras.
With over 2,600 cameras installed in the last 10 years, across 84 roadworks schemes, including Smart Motorways, P&D CCTV systems are designed to give an overview of entire roadworks schemes, providing the on-site TSCO (Traffic Safety and Control Officer) with invaluable real-time information regarding incidents, accidents and on-site vehicle recovery operations throughout the construction works.
Responding to Kiers request for assistance where there was no DNO mains power supply available within miles, P&D implemented a reliable, weatherproof, long range wireless CCTV transmission system across Bodmin Moor that was powered completely off-grid from hydrogen fuel-ceels augmented with wind turbines and solar panels.
The successful completion of the scheme is expected to bring more than £134 million to the Cornish economy each year and play a key role in the future prosperity of Cornwall by encouraging economic growth and aiding regenerations, business expansion and house delivery, as well as supporting tourism. The road improvements are also delivering benefits of strategic importance to the wider economy of Cornwall, easing congestion, making journeys more reliable and making it easier to get around Cornwall.
The construction of the scheme was completed in 2017.
