Drivers warned as one-way system at Lostwithiel Road to Beacon Road bridge in Bodmin finishes
It has been operating a one-way system for several months
Shannon Hards
Drivers in Bodmin have been warned to approach a bridge in the town with care as a temporary one-way system has now finished.
The bridge at Lostwithiel Road to Beacon Road was operating as a one-way system while Cornwall Council analysed how it would affect the town's traffic flow.
It was operating a one-way system for several months.
A spokesman for Cormac said: "From 8am on Friday, December 22, the bridge from Lostwithiel Road to Beacon Road in Bodmin will return to two-way traffic as the order allowing the one-way system expires.
"This means drivers will need to approach the bridge with care as, for the first time in several months, they will be met with traffic regularly coming the other way.
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"The bridge was made one-way only during our Building a Better Bodmin works, to see how such a system affects traffic flow in the area. This data is being analysed by the council."
The Building a Better Bodmin scheme has caused traffic chaos since September 2016.
Beacon Road, Bodmin
The roadworks were in place to create brand new roads and develop routes for cyclists.
It was hoped that they would act as a catalyst for the regeneration of the town centre, as well as bringing thousands of tourists into Bodmin each year.
However, after the end of the scheme in June, people claimed that the 74,000 new cyclists that were expected each year are now snubbing the town.
They also claimed that the new road was "dangerous" and "confusing".
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Nearby, the three-mile dual carriageway section of road over Bodmin Moor and Preeze Cross Bridge was formally declared open for business on July 14, bringing to an end two years of roadworks misery. Cardinham Bridge opened to traffic a few weeks later.
The first major benefit of the new road was the fact that on the first weekend of the school summer holidays, traffic on the A30 was flowing freely.
Hauliers and holidaymakers alike have all been supportive of the ambitious £60 million infrastructure project, only to wish for the next section of the road to be dualled to be completed quickly.
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In previous years, tailbacks of stretching more than 10 miles would have been witnessed in the bottleneck switch from dual to single carriageway on the approach to the original road or the roadworks.
The dual A30 road was completed ahead of a revised schedule after a project which suffered delays when an exceptionally wet winter undermined some of the initial work.
During its busiest time, the road carries about 40,000 vehicles a day, meaning that roughly 280,000 cars, lorries, camper vans, caravans and motorbikes travelled along the new widened stretch of road in the first week it opened.
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The horrendous congestion caused by the previous road layout was estimated to have cost businesses, residents and visitors £235 million a year.
The successful completion of the scheme is expected to bring more than £134 million into the Cornish economy,- meaning that in the first seven days after completion the new road provided a £2.5 million boost to Cornwall.
About 70% of residents in Cornwall and more than 80% of workers are based to the west of Temple, with more than three quarters of businesses surveyed at the start of the scheme predicting that it would have a positive impact on their business.
A30 at Temple (Image: Kier)
The construction on the new dual carriageway involved the cutting of 300,000 tons of earth, equivalent to filling 226 Olympic-sized swimming pools and 130,000sqm of asphalt - equivalent to surfacing 18 Wembley-sized football pitches - and 15,000 metres of vehicle safety barriers - equivalent to the distance between Chiverton Cross and Mitchell.
The contractors have also built 5,500 metres of Cornish hedge as part of the environmental works and planted 15,000 trees and shrubs and 95,000 square metres of seeding, equivalent to seeding 13 Wembley-sized football pitches.
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