Hereford could have an Eastern Link Road linking both sides of the River Wye, to the east of the city, within the next decade, with a feasibility study given approval by Herefordshire Council.
Following a decision by Herefordshire Council’s Coalition to scrap plans for a Western Bypass and Southern Link Road last year, the Eastern Access Road has emerged as the council’s preferred policy when it comes to reducing traffic in Hereford and linking the South Wye area and Rotherwas to the north of the city.
With tens of millions of pounds being spent on developing the Rotherwas area, it would certainly make sense to improve the transport network in this area of the city in an attempt to attract further businesses to the area.
In June 2021, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet confirmed its priorities for progressing the Hereford Transport Strategy and allocated £1.24m one off revenue funds for 2021/22 as follows:
i. £300k to progress feasibility and design for safer routes to school infrastructure schemes;
ii. £150k to develop a cycling and walking masterplan for the city;
iii. £90k to support a clear communications campaign and encourage more people to walk, cycle and use public transport and also supporting covid recovery;
iv. £400k to progress the eastern road link and river crossing;
v. £100k to support the updating of the local transport plan; and
vi. £200k to fund delivery director and project management support to ensure delivery of this programme at pace.
The council has now (following a decision on the 24th May) decided to procure the services of Aecom through the Midlands Highways Alliance Professional Services Framework to progress initial feasibility for the Hereford Eastern Access Road (EAR).
The quoted cost for the delivery of this work is £36,902.92. However, additional contingency funds are required to cover potential changes / additions to the scope as work progresses.
This amount will also need to cover an assessment of the Hereford Transport Model which is managed on the Council’s behalf by WSP. A total of £45,000 therefore needs to be made available for this work.
This work will be funded from the New Homes Bonus.
The EAR scheme initial feasibility work, which is the subject of
this decision, will comprise the following outputs:
ï‚· Evidence base review – this will ensure that the evidence base is refined where needed and at the right time providing a robust basis for the scheme to progress
ï‚· Preparation of a comprehensive gap analysis across all of the key elements of the scheme and assessment of the Hereford Transport Model – to help inform next stage priorities and programme
ï‚· Non-technical summary of programme and future work stages for members and other stakeholders and, at the request of the cabinet member commentary on how the programme could be accelerated noting any associated risks
ï‚· Commentary on potential funding options for scheme
implementation.
Council documents has previously stated that work to progress the Eastern Access Road could mean that the project takes around 8 years to be completed, with the council keen to have significant progress or the scheme close to completion within 5 years.
