A431 temporary toll road opens

A temporary toll road linking Kelston with Bath in Somerset, UK, has opened. Local businessman Mike Watts set up Kelston toll Road Limited to build the 400 metre road, enabling traffic to negotiate the A431 Kelston Road, which has been closed since February because of a landslide. It has cost Kelston Toll Road £150,000 to build the road and Mr Watts estimates it will cost another £150,000 to run the toll road for five months. He plans to charge motorists £2 each way to use the road, which will need to attra
August 4, 2014 Read time: 3 mins

A temporary toll road linking Kelston with Bath in Somerset, UK, has opened.

Local businessman Mike Watts set up Kelston toll Road Limited to build the 400 metre road, enabling traffic to negotiate the A431 Kelston Road, which has been closed since February because of a landslide. It has cost Kelston Toll Road £150,000 to build the road and Mr Watts estimates it will cost another £150,000 to run the toll road for five months. He plans to charge motorists £2 each way to use the road, which will need to attract 1,000 cars a day if it is to break even.

Thought to be the first private road in the UK for 100 years, the road was built in just three days to avoid the hour-long diversion around the roadworks on the key route between Bristol and Bath.

Mr Watts told newspapers: “Building a toll road isn’t easy to do – this is the first private road in Britain for 100 years. I think people are very grateful that we have taken this risk.”

Bath and North East Somerset Council predict the section of the A431 will be open again by Christmas and has launched an investigation into the toll road, claiming it does not have planning permission and could be dangerous.

In a statement, the council said: “This remains an active landslide, which could move without warning. In the absence of any information from the toll road promoters the council has concerns about the impact of traffic loading on the land above the slip.

“The council is not in a position to support the temporary road option as we have not been provided with any evidence/information to support the application. A temporary toll road requires planning permission and no application has been received.

“In view of public concerns the council’s planning enforcement team are currently investigating this matter. The council has no details to confirm the toll road design meets safety standards and no evidence that insurances are in place for any member of the public who use the private toll road.”

The council added that it had considered a bypass road on the south side of the closure, where it would not increase loading above the landslip, but this was not viable.

Enforcement

Related Content

  • Safelane automates work zone perimeter guarding
    June 12, 2015
    The safety of workers during road closures and working alongside, or above, live lanes is becoming an automated process. Ten workers suffered major injuries while working on or near motorways and major A roads in England in 2013, and between 2009 and 2013 eight had been killed. It was against that background that the first commercial application Safelane, the automated traffic management system designed to detect work zone incursions, was carried out during the temporary closure of a motorway.
    Read More
  • Kerb your enthusiasm, warns Passport
    March 4, 2019
    Dynamic kerbside management is crucial if urban authorities are to address increasingly chaotic situations caused by the gig economy and mobility innovation, says Adam Warnes at Passport Demand for the kerbside is growing and changing and it’s no surprise when you consider the recent innovations within the mobility industry. For starters, there are new modes of transport, including ride-shares, electric vehicles (EVs), dockless cycles, last-mile consolidations and autonomous vehicles (AVs). Secondly, the
    Read More
  • America fires V2V starting gun
    April 7, 2014
    Leo McCloskey, ITS America’s senior vice president for Technical Programs, talks to Jason Barnes about what the recent NHTSA ruling on light vehicle connectivity means for cooperative infrastructures in North America. In early February the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it had decided to start taking steps to enable Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication technology for light vehicles. In so doing, the many safety-related applicati
    Read More
  • Measuring alertness to avert drowsy driver incidents
    December 21, 2015
    Falling asleep at the wheel is the primary cause in thousands of deaths on American and other roads, with truck drivers the most at-risk group. David Crawford investigates measures to counter drowsy driving.
    Read More

Highlighted Content