Re: Salisbury bypass | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Stonehenge and its Environs 134

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Highways England Consultation — A303/Stonehenge

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Evergreen Dazed Jan 19, 2017 09:14:13

Replying to nigelswift

Probably a deeply unfashionable thing to say, but I love driving, and being able to glimpse stonehenge from the road is one example of the type of things that go towards the feeling of adventure, freedom and excitement that comes from being able to drive around the country.

Driving down to the west country and that feeling of still being on the path of the old roads of england, however misguided.

It's important to me, but I realise not everybody would care about that.

I can understand locals being thoroughly sick of the traffic. It must be hellish in the summer if you live around there.

But i'm not convinced a tunnel is going to solve anything much in that sense, but it seems certain it will destroy plenty in the SH landscape.

The one-way solution may help. I thought perhaps a toll might help too, but it would probably just move the traffic problem to somebody elses village.

Does anybody have access to a report on the direct disturbance or damage to scheduled monuments in the area?
The overall damage to the archaeology is something I suppose nobody can accurately predict.

juamei Jan 19, 2017 09:30:06

Replying to Evergreen Dazed

I took the family on a detour past Stonehenge last summer on our way to Dorset. I regretted it within 20 mins when I got to the back of a jam with nowhere to go. An hour, a telling off and a sunset hidden by trees later, we drove very slowly past the stones. The kids were not that impressed at some looming black shapes...

Very long tunnel ftw

thesweetcheat Jan 19, 2017 13:12:14

Replying to Evergreen Dazed

Agree with all of this (despite being a non-driver I totally get the thing about following old roads).

It seems to me that any of the options for change proposed are probably worse than leaving things as they are. The PM has said in another context that "a bad deal is worse than no deal" and I can't help thinking that ought to be the case with this issue. Any of the proposed changes seem to be bound to cost a massive amount of money and cause irreversible destruction, the only difference is the scale of cost and the scale of the destruction. As any project manager will tell you, you should always consider the "do nothing" option.

As tjj says, the problem is the volume of cars, sticking them in a tunnel isn't going to change that.

From the plans released with the consultation documents, it's hard to believe there won't be damage to at least some of the scheduled monuments (esp. at the north end of Normanton), irrespective of the damage to the wider archaeology, which they can't really begin to calculate until they start digging it all up.

nigelswift Jan 19, 2017 13:26:36

Replying to Evergreen Dazed

"Probably a deeply unfashionable thing to say, but I love driving, and being able to glimpse stonehenge from the road ...."
Not unfashionable at all. It's one of the Great Views and it would be entirely lost.

"Does anybody have access to a report on the direct disturbance or damage to scheduled monuments in the area?"
Proximity to Blick Mead and disruption of the Winter solstice spectacle are 2 issues but of course if you dig anywhere there you wreck something and what that will be is yet to be known..