People can find out more about a major Government-funded Somerset Council project next month which will see a deteriorating 51-year-old concrete road and motorway junction completely renewed.
The Council’s contractor Heidelberg Materials is refurbishing Junction 26 of the M5 along with the A38 Chelston link road near Wellington, built in 1974. Work starts on 16 June and is expected to finish in late September.
Public drop-in events are taking place in West Buckland and Wellington where people can meet the team and ask questions.
These events are:
- 4pm to 7pm on Wednesday 14 May at West Buckland Village Hall TA21 9NA
- 3.30pm to 7pm on Thursday 15 May at Wellington Football Club TA21 8LY
- 3.30pm to 7pm on Wednesday 21 May at Wellington Football Club TA21 8LY
The contractor will use an innovative technique known as rubblization to completely break up the existing concrete road surface using heavy machinery. Instead of removing 7,300 tonnes of concrete from site, the materials will be retained and recycled as sub-base for the new road.
This modern recycling method, often used on airport runways, will save 200 tonnes in carbon and around 1,130 lorry movements, compared to traditional road construction methods. This is achieved by removing the need to export waste material and quarry and import new stone.
This is better for the environment, but it also means the work will be completed faster, minimising disruption as much as possible.
Due to the depth of excavations required around the Junction 26 roundabout, the project will require a complete closure of Junction 26 and the A38 link road (from J26 to Foxmoor Business Park) for around 14 weeks from 15 June to mid to late September. Access will be maintained to Foxmoor Business Park from the Chelston roundabout.
The window and timescale for the work has been agreed with National Highways and is dictated by forthcoming M5 works, alongside the need to allow National Highways to access its gritting depot off the Chelston Link Road during winter.
Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Waste Services, Councillor Richard Wilkins said:
We know people will have questions and concerns they need to raise so we’d encourage anyone to please come and see us at one of the drop-ins if you can.
We have had some useful feedback already and this is the very start of our engagement with the community and businesses.
There has been a lot of positive feedback about getting this very important scheme done, but we understand this will be disruptive and we will be working closely with local businesses, community leaders and residents to ensure this is minimised as much as possible.
There is an FAQs section and further details on the project here: Major refurbishment of Junction 26 and Chelston Link road
You can report a problem quickly and easily by visiting Report a problem on the road.
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