A joint venture of WS Atkins and Ove Arup is designing a scheme to improve the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down in Wiltshire. The project includes a tunnel near Stonehenge and a bypass of the village of Winterbourne Stoke.
The A303 at Stonehenge currently severs the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site (WHS) and is one of the last remaining single-carriageway bottlenecks between London and Cornwall. The proposed scheme would create an expressway standard dual carriageway route.
The scheme is currently in the Options phase, with a preferred route announcement planned for summer 2017 and a DCO application planned for summer 2018. Subject to statutory procedures, construction work should start by April 2020.
Highways England intends to appoint a contractor on an early contractor involvement (ECI) basis, initially to assist with the DCO application and then to design, build and maintain the scheme.
On the project page on the Highways England website, the value of the scheme is somewhat vaguely put at between £275m and £1,321m.
The market engagement day takes place in Bristol on 12th October 2016 to provide more information on the scheme and the procurement strategy. Those wishing to attend should email simon.chohan@highwaysengland.co.uk for the time and location of the event.
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