A £93M scheme to remove traffic congestion on the regularly 'bottlenecked' A30 between Bodmin and Indian Queens in Cornwall has now opened. The new A30 section of dual carriageway to reduce traffic congestion and conserve a National Nature Reserve opened on July 11th.

The former single carriageway that took traffic through Goss Moor has been replaced with a relocated seven-mile dual carriageway, which is expected to carry a daily transport load of up to 30,000 vehicles in the summer. Located about 500m north of the existing A30 and joining the Bodmin Bypass east of the Innis Downs roundabout, the new road is 11.5km long and has 6.5 km of side roads to help ease traffic flow and minimise congestion.

Goss Moor, a National Nature Reserve, is of European importance and designated as a Special Area of Conservation. The old single-carriageway A30, running through the middle of the area, will now be converted to a bridleway, and cycle/footpath, conserving the rural area and improving green access for people to enjoy the environment. Besides Goss Moor, this section of the A30 was notorious for the low railway bridge that was often hit by high vehicles (causing the A30 to be often closed - cutting off Cornwall).

The Moor combines a mix of dry heath land, and a variety of wetland habitats including fen land, bog land and open water. The site was historically a place of extensive tin mining operations - up until the collapse of the worldwide tin market in 1860.

Today, the heath land blooms with bell heather, purple moor grass and butterfly orchid, and the wetland is home to the rare yellow centaury and marsh clubmoss plants. Local inhabitants and seasonal visitors include the nightjar, linnet, spotted flycatcher and great grey shrike, as well as the double line moth, the silver studded blue and marsh fritillary butterflies, and the small red damselfly.

RPS consultants have been working on the project for the Highways Agency (HA) since 1999, with Mouchel Parkman, and, in 2002, Alfred McAlpine and Scott Wilson were appointed under Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) procedures to build the road.

RPS identified the preferred route to take the road away from the conservation area and avoid damage to archaeological monuments, and provided environmental consultation services throughout the Route Selection, Environmental Statement, and Public Inquiry and Early Contractor Involvement design and construction phases of the project.

Environmental consultation for the project was conducted in association with Natural England and the Environment Agency and included the essential conservation of the marsh fritillary butterfly, and the safe relocation of dormice and reptiles, and the protection of ground water flows to the moors. Underpasses and tunnels were created to protect badgers, otters and dormice from vehicles, and nest boxes for dormice, and roosting-boxes for bats were sited.

Pre-construction archaeological excavations revealed a late Neolithic pit circle, or ‘circle-henge’ at Deep Tye Farm, featuring two arcs – the outer being a ditch, and the inner comprising a number of post-holes. About fifty such sites have been found in the UK – mostly in southern England.

Archaeologists also unearthed the remains of a 2,000-year-old roundhouse at Lower Trenoweth, which is particularly exciting as it may have been used by tinners (Cornwall is one of two Western European tin sources). A burnished piece of a pottery jar estimated to be Iron Age or Roman has also been found at the roundhouse site. Artefacts discovered during the excavation can be seen at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro.

The Highways Agency's investments have also attracted £1.5M of European funding to set up the mid Cornwall LIFE project to restore the rural environment of Goss Moor including linking surrounding countryside to extend the existing nature reserve.

For more information on this project please contact:
Environmental, Ecological, Archaeological Advice for the project:
RPS Oxford - Planning & Development, Environment
T: 01235 821888
Environmental Management and Landscape advice for the project:
RPS Southampton - Planning & Development T: 023 8081 0440