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news
Stonehenge (Licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 by Gareth Wiscombe on Flickr)Riding near Stonehenge this weekend? Video evidence of rubbernecking drivers sought
An environmental campaigner who is opposed to plans for a £1.7 billion tunnel at Stonehenge is calling on cyclists passing the UNESCO World Heritage Site this weekend to help with his ‘citizen science’ research into ‘rubbernecking’ drivers there by providing camera footage and Strava or other GPS data.
Andrew Nicolson, who has previously given evidence against the scheme at the Examination in Public of National Highways’ A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down Project and is convenor of the Transport Topic Group of the Wiltshire Climate Alliance, is seeking evidence regarding the principal causes of traffic congestion at Stonehenge.
The project was recommended for refusal by a panel of independent inspectors after a series of hearings in 2019, but in November of the following year was approved by Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps. That decision was subsequently challenged in the High Court last year by the Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site group.
National Highways’ current plans for the A303 see it designated as an ‘Expressway’ from which cyclists will be banned, and separate off-road provision, while rideable for those on gravel bikes for example, will not be suitable for bike commuters or road cyclists.
Nicholson said: “Is it mostly because the dual carriageway goes into a single two-lane road? Is it the sheer volume of traffic? Or is it largely the ‘rubbernecking’ effect, where drivers slow down so that people in the car can get a good look at Stonehenge, causing tail-backs?
“We need evidence, and my research up to now suggests that rubbernecking is a big factor, if not the main one. I may be proved wrong, but if it is, then the massive project for two bored tunnels, threatening this World Heritage Site and disputed by archaeologists and transport campaigners, is taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut, when the stones could simply be screened off at driver’s eye level.”
“The annual Easter bank holiday weekend is one of the peak times of year for traffic hold-ups on the A303 past Stonehenge,” he continued, “with people from the home counties and the South of England heading for a weekend break or longer holiday in Somerset, Devon or Cornwall. We want data from road users in both directions.”
Besides providing video footage, Nicholson says that cyclists can also help the project by providing a running commentary of their experience of traffic conditions, such as the distance between vehicles, examples of rubbernecking, obstructions, and the like, as well as GPS data from a bike computer or Strava.
As for the sections of road he is particularly interested in, Nicholson said: “For video, it’s between the A303/A345 Countess Roundabout just East of Stonehenge and the A303/A360 Longbarrow Roundabout just to the West. That’s the 3.5 miles, or 5.5km, where it gets really interesting!
“For Strava/GPS, it’s between the A338 Hungerford/Salisbury turn-off, which is on the Hampshire-Wiltshire border, to the East, and the A36 Salisbury/Warminster turn-off to the West. That’s about 15 miles (24km).”
Anyone wishing to participate is asked to upload video footage to the cloud and email the link plus GPS data file if applicable to transport [at] wiltshireclimatealliance.org.uk, and ideally using your real name.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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31 comments
No way I'm cycling that section just for the marginal benefit of catching rubbernecker's. That road is waaaay to dangerous to cycle on. It's basically an alternative to the M4 for everyone heading South and is treated accordingly by motorists.
Aaaaaaaaaaah! Return of the full page ad that can't be closed or minimised! North Face. I thought subscribers didn't see ads?
Your picture makes it look much more interesting than it is from the A303.
The attached photo is what drivers see. It is taken from a long straight road so there is no need to slow down there is plenty of time to take in the full spectacle if you even notice that it is there.
Apart from weekends in Summer I rarely get held up at all on this stretch of road so I think rubernecking is completely off the cards as a source of congestion.
(Stonehenge is in the middle of the horizon)
£1.5bn on cycleways please, rather than £1.5bn so the Fossington-Smyths' SUV can arrive at their Salcome holiday cottage in time to unload and go for drinks on Buffy & Fluffy Harcourt-Templeman's boat, and Tilly so dislikes early starts.
Even if this guy can prove his rubbernecking point, it seems now to have been decided that we're having this tunnel and in 2042 it will have shifted the congestion and queueing problem a few miles west, unless it really does prove to be that EVs don't cause congestion, as seems to be current sales pitch.
Why will cyclists be outlawed from the public highway?
We often are. Flyovers, tunnels, bridges, not all of course, A(M) roads. Bits of the A1, or so I've seen on one of those C5 police things. Not the wrong'uns one.
There are a lot of C5 cop car shows, otherwise law abiding...
But why is that?
Because they can.
They don't want us to inconvenience motorists.
A lot of these roads are very well maintained, have few junctions, excellent sightlines and offer very direct routes. Safer than a lot of the roads we are allowed on. Some might have a slightly higher speed limit
I can't tell you mate, sorry.
The principal cause of traffic congestion is too many motorists.
The origin of the problem is those damn druids building their henge thing so close to a busy main road.
And it's not even a real henge.
What? The banks and ditches were the right way round on the plans that the council showed us! Bonkers wasting tithe-payers barley on that, we'll have ancestors close-passing us now.
Well, they didn't want to carry the stones too far did they?
Carry? You mean they didn't come down the M4/M5 from Wales?
It's volume of traffic which is often horrendous. And Google routing sends it all that way instead of alternatives such as into Salsbury via Old Sarum.
Driving along the A345 and then back up the A360 or A36 is no time saving. As a resident of Old Sarum I'd much rather the impatient motorway traffic stayed on the A303 away from the cyclists.
Fuck the napkin 😀
You're suggesting the issue could be solved with go-carts or pedal cars then?
I'm all for hiding the traffic but this does sound rather like "predict and provide" (which is fully alive up near Edinburgh at least). Having an off-road "bridleway"-style route is nice but this demonstrates the standard trope that "transport" is seen as "only motor vehicles or other expensive and resource-intensive modes". So planners can see two things: 1) transport - which is motor vehicles and 'essential infrastructure' and 'strategic' and connected with the economy. Then there's 2) 'active transport' which is everything else. This is filed under 'kids' or 'parks and recreation'. It's treated as a "nice to have" if and when the adults have sorted out the important (and lucrative) problems of transport.
Contrast what we could win: both specifically "recreational" routes and countryside transport routes for cycles - which may connect with "attractions".
But, but, the project states that
That's a whole minute for every wheel on a tricycle. A journey could be extended by an entire song on the radio. So let's not stand selfishly in the way of people in executive semis in the glorious new suburbs planned for Midlothian's former mining towns and their inalienable right to drive their PCP-funded SUV to Edinburgh.
I call upon road.cc to ban me as a lycrist infiltrator and luddite! I was on the edge of suggesting restricting people's human rights / their children's potential, their right to support themselves and causing pollution!
Another source of congestion is the roundabout just to the west - it's one of those where all approaching roads are single carriageway, but the highways planners (and I use the term loosely) insisted on adding very short sections of multiple lanes on the approach to/exit from said roundabout.
All this does is encourage people to use the wrong lane, as an overtaking opportunity -followed, swiftly, by uncooperative merging that leads to queuing around the roundabout.
If they left the road as single lane, traffic would be able to exit unimpeded, and the blockage would disappear.
This is becoming a worrying trend, with several critical roundabouts, near me, having been "upgraded" like this, making things worse than they were before.
The problem with roads and congestion is junctions, specifically junction capacity, and in theory, if you increase capacity at junctions, you solve the congestion problem.
Yeah, right.
The A303 has two lanes in either direction for much of its length. But the bit going past Stonehenge has just a single lane in either direction. There are tailbacks there because of this and because the road winds through a village nearby. There are a lot of heavy trucks on the A303 and it's worth bearing in mind the safety issues these pose going through the village.
Yes, some drivers may slow down so their passengers can take pictures. But the real cause of the tailbacks is congestion.
Yes, after the lane merger traffic speeds recover. It's a massive bottle neck. I think rubber necking is a very minor factor.
Tailbacks don'r cause congestion, they are congestion. It's the constriction that's the cause!
Personally, I'm in favour of putting all major roads underground, not just the A303. With an above ground cycleway, an e-bikeway and a separate walkway of course.
that would be excellent, however did you see the mess that Tesla made of this? Hilarious seeing these cars just...stopped...
Too many cars and not enough space, that's the cause of the congestion there. The A303 does need to be upgraded anda tunnel is the only option. But the ground condtions are poor as the rock is faulted and the water table is high, so any tunnel will need a lot of concrete to support it and will ahve to be properly sealed. It'll also need a filtration system to ensure no contaminants enter the water table in an environmentally sensitive area.
The real issue is how long the tunnel should be. The DfT says 2miles is enough, but the archaeologists and environmentalists say it isn't.
And remember that building a tunnel in those poor conditions will not be cheap.
Another alternative would be to diver the A303 south, but it'll also be expensive and frankly I don't think that'll happen and will meet a lot of resistance too.
So a hedge may be a cheaper and faster solution?
This is brilliant (if it helps)! Given Stonehenge is neolithic bling, making a big statement in the landscape, maybe a suitable modern tribute "screen" would be leylandii?
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