It has taken nearly 50 years to convert the entire length of the A30 West of Exeter to continuous dual carriageway from the M5 motorway just South of Exeter down to at least Camborne so another couple of month delays for this scheme is not going to make a lot of difference as for when bypasses were built around Launceston, Bodmin and Redruth/Camborne bypasses and the long stretch from Exeter to Cheriton Bishop in Devon built in the 1970's . The Okehampton bypass, the Launceston to Temple dualling (first section done to Bolventor and second bit to Temple a few years later) and the Blackwater Bypass (the Western end of this scheme) section came in the 1980's as well as the Connor Downs and Hayle bypass although only built as single carriageways and at grade roundabout junctions. The section between Okehampton and Launceston was built in the early 1990's including the removal of the roundabout at the Western end of the original Okehampton bypass and the original Zelah bypass (single carriageway section in the current scheme), Carland Cross to Penhale dualling bypassing Mitchell and Summercourt (new roundabout at Carland Cross with the diverted A39 to Truro) and then the Indian Queens and Fraddon bypass and that was about it for the 20th century. In 2005, the Labour government gave the green line for Bodmin to Indian Queens section to be connected up which had removed the Innis Down roundabout at the Western end of the original Bodmin bypass with a new graded junction and dualled around the top of Goss Moor which was surprisingly approved by even environmental groups. The (Merrymeet) roundabout near Moretonhampstead on the original Exeter to Cheriton Bishop section was also converted into a graded junction in the 2000's. In the 2010's, the final section on Bodmin Moor between Temple and Higher Carblake was dualled in 2018 and the final link between Carland Cross and Chiverton Cross including widening the existing Zelah bypass and removing the roundabouts to graded junctions looks like this will finally open in 2024. Most of the new A30 route is a high quality dual carriageway but there are some sections along it which have central reservation cross-over junctions and it seems unlikely that Highways England will ever provide proper graded junctions to literally call this route a mini-motorway. The only remaining section as to whether this is going to be continued to Penzance is anybody's guess at the moment which by far will be a complex scheme involving dualling the Connor Downs and Hayle bypasses (knocking down over bridges as they were not built wide enough to future proof for dualling) and finding a route to bypass Crowlas, Cannon's Town and St. Erth to link up with the short stretch of dual carriageway at Longrock. As for one of the feeder routes into this (A303), there are still about 35 miles of single carriageway and nothing is going to move on this until the issue with Stonehenge is sorted out. The upgrade of the remaining sections of the A303 is more challenging including the removal of several at grade roundabouts in Somerset and the dualling of the Ilminster bypass (all the over-bridges needs to be demolished as the current route is not wide enough to accommodate a dual carriageway) and the upgrade of the A358 to Taunton. It has also been mooted that the A30/A303 route of the Blackdown Hills will be straightened with single carriageway alternative overtaking between Ilminster and Honiton to provide a 60 mph through route. I don't know why they do not dual this as well given that they cannot use the existing alignment and had managed to do the same on the A3 on the Surrey / Hampshire border at Hindhead where they tunneled under the Devil's Punchbowl which is also a SSSI and was signed off by a Labour government again. In relation to where these highway workers will go when this scheme is finished, well there is a new road scheme starting on the Bedfordshire / Cambridgeshire border near St. Neots for a 7 mile new expressway dual carriageway inking Cambridge and Bedford to Milton Keynes with a multi-level interchange with the A1 and a crossing over the Kings Cross to Edinburgh railway. Also if it goes ahead is the Lower Thames Crossing East of the Dartford Crossing between Kent and Essex.
This is an amazing video, to see the whole layout from the air just incredible, you would think that everyone would be working on the Carland Cross end, but there seems to be less working on it than before 😮
June opening date seems unrealistic after seeing this… 😂 How do you get your drone to do a full uninterrupted shot? Are you on the ground following it? Or is the range huge?😂
They might do, I need to do another one as soon as the good weather is back. So as I eluded to in the description, this was done with a chase car, this is why there was no traffic east bound as we were directly behind it holding everyone up!
Honestly didnt pay attention to the non-existent bound traffic. Was looking at half the road is ready for a dual. Will be interesting to see if June deadline is achievable. Also well done on the full fly by. You could have done it one but that'd double your battery time and risk loosing the drone sending it back to your starting point. Looking forward to the next video! @fran_terry
Great update been following this as i use the a30 daily,its good to see the progress from the air...great drone footage 🎉. keep up the great work!
Thanks, alas the weather has been my enemy over the last few months, hopefully I can keep doing more regular updates
Just got out hospital and this was the first video i saw. Thanks for the upload
Wishing you a speedy recovery, I'm glad you enjoyed the video
Awsome video mate i got say looks ready to open between chivvy and chubucca looks a bit of a,mess around carland cross
I think they will open up sections as they can as they still need to finish realigning the old A30 road for local traffic
A full uninterrupted drone flight! Awesome video and enjoyable to watch :D Perhaps JUNE deadline might actually be achievable weather permitting.
It is looking likely they might actually do it. I will try and do another one in a couple of weeks weather permitting to see the progress
It has taken nearly 50 years to convert the entire length of the A30 West of Exeter to continuous dual carriageway from the M5 motorway just South of Exeter down to at least Camborne so another couple of month delays for this scheme is not going to make a lot of difference as for when bypasses were built around Launceston, Bodmin and Redruth/Camborne bypasses and the long stretch from Exeter to Cheriton Bishop in Devon built in the 1970's . The Okehampton bypass, the Launceston to Temple dualling (first section done to Bolventor and second bit to Temple a few years later) and the Blackwater Bypass (the Western end of this scheme) section came in the 1980's as well as the Connor Downs and Hayle bypass although only built as single carriageways and at grade roundabout junctions. The section between Okehampton and Launceston was built in the early 1990's including the removal of the roundabout at the Western end of the original Okehampton bypass and the original Zelah bypass (single carriageway section in the current scheme), Carland Cross to Penhale dualling bypassing Mitchell and Summercourt (new roundabout at Carland Cross with the diverted A39 to Truro) and then the Indian Queens and Fraddon bypass and that was about it for the 20th century. In 2005, the Labour government gave the green line for Bodmin to Indian Queens section to be connected up which had removed the Innis Down roundabout at the Western end of the original Bodmin bypass with a new graded junction and dualled around the top of Goss Moor which was surprisingly approved by even environmental groups. The (Merrymeet) roundabout near Moretonhampstead on the original Exeter to Cheriton Bishop section was also converted into a graded junction in the 2000's. In the 2010's, the final section on Bodmin Moor between Temple and Higher Carblake was dualled in 2018 and the final link between Carland Cross and Chiverton Cross including widening the existing Zelah bypass and removing the roundabouts to graded junctions looks like this will finally open in 2024. Most of the new A30 route is a high quality dual carriageway but there are some sections along it which have central reservation cross-over junctions and it seems unlikely that Highways England will ever provide proper graded junctions to literally call this route a mini-motorway. The only remaining section as to whether this is going to be continued to Penzance is anybody's guess at the moment which by far will be a complex scheme involving dualling the Connor Downs and Hayle bypasses (knocking down over bridges as they were not built wide enough to future proof for dualling) and finding a route to bypass Crowlas, Cannon's Town and St. Erth to link up with the short stretch of dual carriageway at Longrock.
As for one of the feeder routes into this (A303), there are still about 35 miles of single carriageway and nothing is going to move on this until the issue with Stonehenge is sorted out. The upgrade of the remaining sections of the A303 is more challenging including the removal of several at grade roundabouts in Somerset and the dualling of the Ilminster bypass (all the over-bridges needs to be demolished as the current route is not wide enough to accommodate a dual carriageway) and the upgrade of the A358 to Taunton. It has also been mooted that the A30/A303 route of the Blackdown Hills will be straightened with single carriageway alternative overtaking between Ilminster and Honiton to provide a 60 mph through route. I don't know why they do not dual this as well given that they cannot use the existing alignment and had managed to do the same on the A3 on the Surrey / Hampshire border at Hindhead where they tunneled under the Devil's Punchbowl which is also a SSSI and was signed off by a Labour government again.
In relation to where these highway workers will go when this scheme is finished, well there is a new road scheme starting on the Bedfordshire / Cambridgeshire border near St. Neots for a 7 mile new expressway dual carriageway inking Cambridge and Bedford to Milton Keynes with a multi-level interchange with the A1 and a crossing over the Kings Cross to Edinburgh railway. Also if it goes ahead is the Lower Thames Crossing East of the Dartford Crossing between Kent and Essex.
Cracking video. Thanks for this!
Glad you enjoyed it
The new June opening date looks a bit pie in the sky.
I so want to change on the new signs from "Open June 2024" to "Open Dreckley". Spelling probably wrong as I'm drunk...... Don't care
This is an amazing video, to see the whole layout from the air just incredible, you would think that everyone would be working on the Carland Cross end, but there seems to be less working on it than before 😮
Any chance of an update please 🙏 many thanks 👍
New one today at midday 🙂
Hey bud any update on your next vid?
New one today at midday
@@droning-about Awesome news can't wait! So looking forward to it :D
June opening date seems unrealistic after seeing this… 😂
How do you get your drone to do a full uninterrupted shot? Are you on the ground following it? Or is the range huge?😂
They might do, I need to do another one as soon as the good weather is back. So as I eluded to in the description, this was done with a chase car, this is why there was no traffic east bound as we were directly behind it holding everyone up!
Honestly didnt pay attention to the non-existent bound traffic. Was looking at half the road is ready for a dual. Will be interesting to see if June deadline is achievable.
Also well done on the full fly by. You could have done it one but that'd double your battery time and risk loosing the drone sending it back to your starting point.
Looking forward to the next video!
@fran_terry
Thanks for the great content.🥏🙂
Still a hell off a lot off work to do! Can’t see a June opening myself.
I can