Stonehenge road tunnel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Stonehenge road tunnel is a controversial tunnel proposed by the United Kingdom's Highways Agency to take the busy A303 road under part of the Stonehenge site in Wiltshire, England. A tunnel under the site has been debated for many years as the volume of traffic on the road, which is the main route from London to the South-West, has increased. The road has been upgraded along the rest of its length, causing queues at Stonehenge, with The Guardian naming it one of the country's most congested roads. The tunnel is one of a number of proposed alterations to the roads surrounding the monument. The alterations to the roads are closely linked to proposals to change the site in other ways including moving the visitors center.

The aims^[1] of the proposed improvements are stated by the Highways Agency as being:

remove roads and traffic from the landscape setting to Stonehenge within the heart of the World Heritage Site;
provide a bypass for the village of Winterbourne Stoke; and
reduce accidents along this stretch of the A303 and improve journey time reliability.

There are at least four different proposals for the tunnel:

The Highways Agency has proposed a shallow 'cut-and-cover' tunnel, but this has been opposed by the National Trust and English Heritage, the organisations that own the site, as this could destroy archaeological remains along the route.

In 2002 the Secretary of State for Transport announced a number of major road projects, including an upgrade of the A303 bottleneck at Stonehenge. On June 5, 2003 the Highways Agency proposed 12.5 km of upgrades that included a 2.1 km bored tunnel, which would avoid some of the archaeological problems. This proposal sparked protests from the National Trust, English Heritage, UNESCO, CPRE, the Council for British Archaeology and local groups as the tunnel approach cutting would cut in two a prehistoric trackway between Stonehenge and a nearby river.

These groups are calling for a tunnel at least 2.9 km long, which would, while being sited within the world heritage site clear most of the known major artefacts, claiming that if the government goes ahead with the 2.1 km tunnel there may never be another chance to remove the road from the site completely.

Some groups are calling for a 4.5 km tunnel that would completely free the site from the noise and light pollution of the road. These protests were heard by a public inquiry, which concluded on May 11, 2004 that the 2.1 km tunnel was adequate.

Inspector Michael Ellison's report ^[2] following the summer 2004 public inquiry states that:

The physical loss of archaeological remains, the changes to the landform in these sections, and the scale of the new highway would adversely affect the authenticity of the site and more than offset the benefits of the proposed tunnel in the central area. The published scheme would represent the largest earthwork ever constructed within the World Heritage Site; a feature that would contribute nothing to the authenticity.

This point of view supports the opposition of any major earthworks in the world heritage site. As the current generation responsible for preserving the WHS and Stonehenge for the future should not be destructive. A tunnel or new road would be an irreversible interference and destruction of a site and monument that we, have no right to damage.

The closure the A344 at its junction with the A303 would solve the current problem: that the proximity of the A344 to the monument is a major detraction from the setting of Stonehenge (more so than the A303). However with the closure of the A344 access to Stonehenge for those with disabilities, and those without much time to spend at the monument will be made difficult/impossible

Another common opinion [3][4] is that the preservation of the WHS for future generations is most important, not road improvements. Congestion is a very current and transient problem compared with the 7000 year history of the site.

There is a positive aspect of Stonehenge being visible from the A303 - many more people get to see the monument as they drive past than they would if the A303 was covered, or moved.

One proposal involves a main road, the A344, which branches from the A303 a few hundred meters from Stonehenge, and passes right next to the Heelstone, would be closed, with traffic being routed onto another existing road. Both the old roads would probably be closed and demolished.

On July 20 2005 the tunnel scheme was withdrawn by the Government, partly due to rising costs of construction, which have risen 65% in just two years to £470 million^[5]. The Highways Agency continues to list the project as planned, but now gives 2008 as the earliest date for the start of construction^[6].

In late October 2005 a Government steering group was set up to look at possible solutions, with the aim of choosing an "option in keeping with the special requirements of the location that is affordable, realistic and deliverable." The group expected to produce a full report in early summer 2006, taking into account the results of public consultation which started in 23 January 2006 and ran until 24 April 2006.

It is likely that the scheme will have to undergo the entire statutory process again, so delivery will still be several years away.