Tedburn St Mary won their case

My last post was about a main road and I'll continue the theme in this one. Back toward the end of October 2007 I wrote about the fact that the central reservation crossing point on the A30 dual carriageway just south of Tedburn St Mary was being closed. At that time I supported the move by 'Highways' making the point that the Cheriton Bishop flyover was reasonably close and that in my opinion it was just too dangerous to permit right turns on and off such a fast road. Subsequently the folk from Tedburn applied for some sort of judicial review (I don't pretend to understand the legal niceties) with the result that Tedburn won their case! This happened a little before this last Easter, I just hope no calamitous accidents happen as a result of this judgment.

In fairness if I had to make such a right turn on or off a dual carriageway the Tedburn one wouldn't be so hazardous as some. Visibility is good and I've never found that piece of road particularly busy. I haven't driven it in the rush hour though or on a Saturday afternoon in the summer so my experience isn't necessarily characteristic of the road. But the judgment still worries me.

Road crossing closure upsets Tedburn St Mary

The dualling of the A30 trunk road between Exeter and Okehampton (or should I say Okehampton and Exeter as that would lead the eye from left to right when looking at a map, just the same way as we read a book from left to right, just seems correct that way) was carried out quite some time ago. Back then, with cost constraints a factor, a lot of junctions weren't of the flyover type and there were many instances of right turn junctions involving waiting in a gap in the centre reservation before crossing the carriageway from the opposite direction. The same set up occurred in a number of places when the dual carriageway from Plymouth to Exeter, now known as 'The Devon Expressway' was completed it should be said.

Over the intervening years there has been a policy of closing these centre reservation gaps or in some cases going the whole hog and providing a two level junction. Currently the gap that enables right turns into and out of the village of Tedburn St Mary is being closed and the locals, who only live a stone's throw from the main road, aren't impressed.

The point they have to remember is that with very very few of these right turn junctions left on this fast dual carriageway drivers on the main drag just won't be expecting these dangerous crossing manoeuvres. Bear in mind too that these dual carriageways have the same speed limit as motorways (70 mph) so ought to be as good in their junction design.

Looking at the Tedburn case in particular the junction for Cheriton Bishop which is only three or four miles further west is now a flyover. Yes retaining a direct access in and out of Tedburn St Mary would be nice but it is just too close to Cheriton Bishop to justify its own flyover I'm afraid and for safety's sake that central reservation gap has to be closed.

I'm assuming that the slip roads on and off the eastbound carriageway are being retained. Please correct me if this is wrong!