The Toneway is the heavily used highway route linking Taunton with the M5 motorway at Junction 25. It carries an annual average daily traffic (AADT) of 36,600 vehicles. Weekday peak hours see around 3,000 vehicles per hour.
There are three major junctions on the Toneway – Heron Gate Roundabout, Creech Castle traffic signals and Obridge Roundabout. All three junctions will require capacity increases to accommodate growing demand. The most urgent is Creech Castle, which is the subject of this project.
The Creech Castle junction is a large signalised junction, with segregated left-turns on each of the four approaches. The A358 Toneway forms the east and west arms of the junction. The A38 Bridgwater Road lead north, via Monkton Heathfield, towards Bridgwater and to the south Bridgwater Road provides access to a largely residential area of Taunton. Both Bridgwater Road arms are single-carriageway. The four left-turn movements are provided using short give-way slip roads. During certain times of the day mainline vehicle queuing prevents full utilisation of these arms particularly on the northern side of the junction. The Creech Castle signals suffer from high levels of congestion during the morning and evening peak hours.
The main components of the improvement scheme are:-
- Widening of the Toneway East Approach from two to three ahead lanes
- Widening of the Bridgwater Road South approach to four lanes at the stop line, with three lanes for right turning and traffic and a separate lane for right turning traffic. One of the right turn lanes is shared to provide a straight ahead movement. The existing segregated left turn lane will be removed.
- Removal of the dedicated right turn lane from Toneway West to Bridgwater Road South with this lane now marked for straight ahead traffic. The existing segregated give-way left turn lane on this arm will remain.
The A38 North will have an additional right turn lane and the left turn will be increased to two lanes at the stop line.
Growth Deal Funding: £6.7m
