Posted: Thu 24th Apr 2014

First Look At A483 / A55 Junction Changes

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Thursday, Apr 24th, 2014

The A483 / A55 junction is getting a £5.3m revamp, and we take a first look at the planned changes due from June.

Wrexham.com revealed back in November that plans to improve the A483 / A55 junctions had been given the green light to proceed this year.

The Highways Agency say: “The scheme will provide additional lane capacity, but will also ensure the existing carriageway is better utilised, which will improve traffic flows and reduce delays.

“The scheme will also offer significant safety benefits. A new footbridge for shared use by cyclists and pedestrians will be constructed adjacent to the west bridge.”

The estimated cost is £5.3m, with work taking place between June this year and February 2015.

Wrexham.com reader Peter Brookman conducted a Freedom Of Information request (FOI) to gain access to the plans for changes, which are available for download below as well as imaged.

Managing Agent for the Highways Agency in Cheshire, Balfour Beatty Mott McDonald, are also responsible for managing and maintaining the motorway and trunk road network on their behalf, appear to be carrying out the works.

They have said these are draft plans for the scheme, and ‘it should be noted that these plans are subject to change’.

Parts of the road currently appear they have been used as a test range for mortar rounds, and there is no indication that the large potentially dangerous pot holes that appear on the A483 and A55 junctions will be repaired prior to this work.

 

The Plans

We start the plans from the ‘top’ of the A483 bypass, with the below image being rotated 180 degrees. The top road is the bypass, the bottom turn off is the ‘old road’ , with the bottom road being the link to the A55 ‘Posthouse’ junction.

The main change here is the removal of the current roundabout, indicated in grey, with a hatched area being created in place with a likely traffic light controlled junction in its place.

a55-a483-bypass-end

 

Heading further up the road towards Chester this image shows the overview of the new ‘Rough Hill’ junction, and works to extend the lane capacity, plus including a new right turn from Chester direction.

a55-a483-roughhill-wide

 

Zooming in on the new Rough Hill junction it appears a second set of traffic lights will be used to control traffic. Currently southbound traffic needs to head to the roundabout to get back to Rough Hill, however with the removal of that roundabout this is no longer possible. The solution is the creation of a right hand turn from Chester.

 

a55-a483-roughhill

 

Further up the road an additional lane will be implemented, increasing lane capacity from three to four:

a55-a483-south-junct

 

The main junction itself will see an extra lane being created inbound towards Chester over the bridge, increasing capacity from three lanes to four.

On the left hand side there is a blue hatching which will be a new footbridge created over the A55.



a55-a483-main-roundabout

 

The western junction of the A55 will also see its capacity increased from three lanes to four.

 

a55-a483-east-junct

 

For those who want the full plan files,  you can download the plan PDF’s here:
PDF-001
PDF-002
PDF-003
PDF-004
PDF-005

What do you think of the A55 / A483 junction changes, what would you do differently? Click here to enter the Wrexham.com Forum to have your say!

 



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