Consultation opens on plans for North Thanet Link relief road

nthlink — North Thanet Link relief road proposal

A public consultation opens today (May 11) over plans to create a relief road and new walking and cycling infrastructure between Birchington, Acol, Westgate and Margate to the south of the existing A28 Canterbury Road.

The North Thanet Link aims to support the A28 highway corridor by improving journeys through a combination of new road links, road widening, junction improvements and new walking and cycling facilities.

Road users travelling on the A28 Canterbury Road corridor often experience high volumes of traffic. Kent County Council says without highway improvements the issues are likely to be made worse by future development, which will generate further traffic and travel demand on this stretch of road.

Due to the historic layout and space constraints, particularly through Birchington Square, there is limited opportunity to improve road capacity along the existing A28. An alternative highway route has been identified by KCC which is now consulting on the details of the proposed scheme, including its aims and objectives, the route and current design.

North Thanet Link in red, Rest of Inner Circuit in blue

The North Thanet Link consists of:

A new highway link between A28 Canterbury Road and Manston Road.
A new highway link between Manston Road (near the junction with Shottendane Road) and Columbus Avenue, including the removal of access for motorised vehicles at the existing junction of Margate Hill and Manston Road.
Widening of the existing Manston Road and Shottendane Road along the existing highway alignment (including junction improvements).
A new highway link running parallel to the eastern section of Shottendane Road between High Street in Garlinge and Twenties Cottages on Shottendane Road.
New highway links between Hartsdown Road, Shottendane Road and Manston Road in Margate.
New and improved highway links will include off-road walking and cycling facilities with crossing facilities.

The total length of the proposed scheme is approximately 10 kilometres (just over 6 miles). Once constructed and opened, the scheme would be managed as part of KCC’s road network.

Consultation documents say: “Approximately 15,0003 vehicles per day currently travel on the A28 Canterbury Road between Birchington and Westgate-on-Sea. With forecast future traffic increases from both planned development and other background growth, this figure is likely to increase to around 18,000 vehicles per day by 2043. This represents an increase of approximately 20%.

“It is forecasted that the North Thanet Link will reduce future traffic increase on the A28 Canterbury Road by 2,500 vehicles per day, to 15,500 by 2043. This represents a reduction in future traffic increases to around 4%.

“There is significant development planned around the Manston Road and Shottendane Road. Currently there are around 7,5004 vehicles per day using the Shottendane Road corridor. This is forecast to increase to 11,000 vehicles per day by 2043.

“With the improvements proposed in the North Thanet Link scheme, it is expected that traffic flows on Shottendane Road will increase to 22,000 vehicles by 2043. This is because the new and improved route provides an alternative to the existing A28 and the Manston Road corridor between Margate and Spitfire Way.

“These forecasts do not account for any future provision of infrastructure improvements at Manston Road and Spitfire Way, which may lead to a redistribution of future traffic flows between Shottendane Road and Manston Road corridors.

“Without the North Thanet Link scheme improvements, it is expected that Acol Village will see a significant increase in traffic activity of 7,000 vehicles per day.”

The current estimated cost of the North Thanet Link scheme is approximately £60 million. It is anticipated that it will be delivered through either Department for Transport (DfT) funding to deliver the North Thanet Link scheme through the Major Road Network (MRN) funding stream providing 80-85% with the other 15-20% sourced from local developer contributions.

This option would mean the scheme would be delivered fully by KCC, in a single phase, across a two-year period.

Or, option 2, is the required highway improvements would be delivered through a combination of new highway infrastructure (by developers) within planned development sites and financial contributions from developers.

Delivery would then take place over a longer period and be dictated by the pace at which strategic development sites are delivered.

KCC’s Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, David Brazier said: “North Thanet Link is designed to manage traffic pressure on the busy A28, reduce traffic within Acol village, improve journey times, road safety and provide better facilities for walking and cycling.

“The change in population expected in the east of the county means we need to prepare for growth and it is essential we can continue to keep Kent moving.

“The views expressed in this public consultation will help us to develop KCC’s plans as we prepare our Outline Business Case to the DfT.”