Road Planning

Sir Peter Emery
asked the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has for extending the dual cariageway for the M3–A303 from Thruxton to Exeter and on what dates these plans are to be finalised.

Mrs. Chalker
Our report "National Roads England 1985", published last June, gives details of the proposed improvements on the A303-A30 between Thruxton and Exeter, together with their approximate start dates. The details are as follows: --------------------------------------------------
|                                                |
--------------------------------------------------
|A303 Thruxton-Amesbury                          |
--------------------------------------------------
|A303 Furze hedge improvement                    |
--------------------------------------------------
|A303 Mere-Wincanton                             |
--------------------------------------------------
|A303 Sparkford bypass                           |
--------------------------------------------------
|A303 Ilchester-South Petherton                  |
--------------------------------------------------
|A303 South Petherton-Broadway (Ilminster bypass)|
--------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------
|                                  |
------------------------------------
|A303-A30 Marsh-Honiton improvement|
------------------------------------
|A30 Honiton-Exeter improvement    |
------------------------------------

Dual carriageways will be provided wherever this is justified by present and predicted traffic usage.

Studies are in hand to determine what needs to be done to the remaining sections of the route between these planned improvements.