|
|
|
|
|
Stonehenge Road TunnelThe Stonehenge road tunnel is a controversial tunnel proposed by the United Kingdom Highways Agency that will take the busy A303 road under Stonehenge in Wiltshire. 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 Highways Agency has in the past proposed a cheap, shallow 'cut-and-cover' tunnel, but this has been opposed by the National Trust and English Heritage, the NGOs which own the site, as this could potentially destroy any archaeological remains along the route. In 2002, the Secretary of State for Transport announced a number of major road projects in the UK, including an overdue upgrade of the A303 bottleneck at Stonehenge. On June 5, 2003, the Highways agency proposed 12.5 km of upgrades which included a 2.1 km bored tunnel, which would avoid some of the problems of archaeology. These plans sparked protests from the National Trust, English Heritage, UNESCO, CPRE the Council for British Archaeology and local groups, as the 2.1 km tunnel is not long enough to avoid a prehistoric trackway between the stone circle and a nearby river, which will be cut in two by the approach road cutting. These groups are calling for a tunnel at least 2.9 km long, which would clear all of the major artefacts at the site, claiming that if the government goes ahead with the 2.1 km tunnel there may never be another chance to completely remove the road from the site. Some groups are calling for a 5 km tunnel that will completely free the site from the noise and light pollution from the roads. These protestations were heard by a public inquiry, which concluded on May 11, 2004, that the original plans for the shorter tunnel were adequate. Another main road, the A344, which branches from the A303 less than 1 km from Stonehenge, will be closed, with traffic being routed onto another existing road. Both of the old roads will probably be closed and demolished. The landowners and action groups continue to press for the longer tunnel, and the final decision will be taken by parliament in early 2005 after a report by the Department for Transport. External links
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|