Deep Lane Junction is located on the A38 trunk road (also known as the Devon Expressway) a few miles east of Plymouth. The junction links the A38 to Chaddlewood, Plympton and the Langage employment site to the north via Sandy Road and will serve the proposed new community Sherford to the south via Deep Lane.
The area to the east of Plymouth is planned to experience significant growth. The new community at Sherford to the south-west of the Deep Lane Junction will provide 5,500 new homes and 83,000 square metres of employment space in the form of a sustainable mixed-use settlement. Additionally, Langage is identified as strategic employment site which will accommodate many more jobs for the area. A new Park and Ride site for Plymouth, south of Deep Lane Junction, is also planned as part of the Sherford development.
Improvements at Deep Lane junction, to increase its capacity, help to unlock the planning permission for Sherford. In particular, the permitted housing development would be capped at 1300 homes in the absence of this Phase 1 improvement, and the improvements to the Deep Lane South junction (to the southern side of the A38).
The Phase 1 improvements include the following:
- Upgrading the existing Ridgeway roundabout of the eastbound off-slip/on-slip to a signalised junction, with a dedicated left running lane from Ridgeway towards Sandy Road.
- Widening the carriageway to provide increased storage capacity on the approach to the Ridgeway roundabout and Deep Lane North,
- Increasing signalised junction at Deep Lane North to provide increased storage and capacity.
- Optimised traffic signals to manage traffic flows better
The objectives of the scheme are to:
- Support growth by facilitating the delivery of housing beyond 1300 homes at Sherford.
- Improve the efficiency of the junction to manage anticipated growth
- Improve journey times through the junction.
Outputs:
The scheme supports the delivery of 220 jobs and 700 houses
Started on site: June 2016
Completed: July 2017
Total scheme cost: £2.96m
Growth Deal Funding £1.91m