Jam-busting scheme will be ineffective once built
Council agrees £2.5m revamp but benefits will be short-lived
Kent County Council will spend £2.5m on improvements to a key route into Maidstone - the benefits of which will be lost almost as soon as it is built.
Last year highways engineers came up with a scheme to widen the A274 Sutton Road to three lanes and provide dedicated turning lanes into Willington Street and Wallis Avenue.
The £4m proposal would have provided a “considerable capacity benefit” right up to 2031.
But it was rejected by members of the Joint Transportation Board (JTB), which includes both county and borough councillors, because it would have involved the loss of a line of cherry trees near Bell Meadow and a considerable expansion into a grass verge. More than 900 residents signed a petition against the plans.
The new proposal was presented at the latest JTB meeting. It involves moving the position of bus stops, compulsorily purchasing land in Willington Street to expand the width of the road at the junction, and providing dedicated left-turn lanes on Sutton Road.
But chief project engineer Russell Boorman warned the scheme “provided very little benefit” and the junction would again be at over-capacity by 2021 - around the time the project would likely be finished. More than 2,650 homes have planning permission for the Sutton Road area.
Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) said: “There is significant pressure on the A274 corridor and there are still more new homes to be built. “It is absolute folly to consider a scheme that by the time it is delivered will already be beyond capacity.”
Cllr Ian Chittenden (Lib Dem) submitted a motion to re-instate the original project but it was defeated by a vote.
Instead the new scheme, which would be paid for with Section 106 payments from developers, was favoured. A public consultation will be held in September.