National Highways’ A30 Cornwall upgrade to create ‘green’ bridge for wildlife

The new bridge is being constructed over the Marazanvose section of the new A30 dual carriageway in Cornwall.

Formed with two decks and planted extensively with plants and hedging, the green bridge will maintain and enhance connectivity for habitats separated by the new road, providing a flourishing green border and providing a safe passage across the road for badgers, voles and other small animals, insects and birds.

The bridge will not only provide better connectivity for wildlife but will also include a footpath and a bridleway for horse riders.

Pioneered in the Netherlands, the Terlet overpass was the first wildlife crossing constructed near Arnhem in 1990. Planted with trees, within six years three species of deer were recorded using it, along with wild boar, red foxes, badgers, wood mice, and common shrew and common vole species.

Green bridges are now becoming an important part of the sustainability of infrastructure projects, by:

• creating a safe crossing point for wildlife movement;
• joining up habitats and connecting colonies, as they are also used by wildlife as a home in their own right;
• creating a crossing point for people and benefitting pollinators;
• integrating roads and railways into the surrounding landscape.

So far, National Highways, the company responsible for England’s major A roads and motorways, has constructed green bridges over the A556 near Chester and the A21 at Scotney Castle in Sussex.

Another green bridge is planned to be constructed at Cockrow as part of the M25 Wisley interchange scheme in the south east, together with three further bridges in the south west, as part of the A30 Cornwall upgrade, the A303 Sparkford to Ilchester dualling scheme in Somerset and the upcoming A417 Missing Link scheme near Gloucester.

Neil Winter, National Highways Senior Project Manager for the A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross scheme, said: “We are really proud of the environmental work being carried out as part of this project, and the creation of the green bridge is a leading part of that.

“The company’s first green bridge was built over the A556 in Cheshire, our green bridge will be one of only six across the country and once completed, will provide a safe crossing for various species of wildlife.

“We are currently aligning the new carriageway and the bridge will then be installed over the road and once planting has taken place, we look forward to seeing the bridge bloom for many years to come and provide a real legacy for the scheme.”

The south section of the bridge has already been constructed, and the weekend work will see the new A30 realigned for traffic to travel underneath allowing for construction of the north section over the existing road.

To enable the road alignment around the green bridge location, the A30 will be closed over the weekend of 15-18 September between Scorrier and Boxheater.

Weekend work will also see the old Tolgroggan accommodation bridge dismantled, following installation of the new bridge earlier this year, and during the closure, from 8pm on Friday, 15 September to 6am on Monday, 18 September, traffic will be diverted from Boxheater on the A30 via B3285 and the A3075 to rejoin the A30 at Scorrier with the eastbound diversion route in reverse.

Due to a low bridge (4.7 metres) at Scorrier, HGVs will be diverted via the A393 and A39 to rejoin the A30 at Carland.

Preparation work will be taking place under overnight closures for four nights this coming week, 11-15 September, 8pm to 6am nightly, and the diversion route is identical.

Mr Winter added: “We appreciate the weekend and overnight closures will have an effect on people’s journeys, and we advise people to plan ahead and allow a little extra time for their journeys over the weekend.

“We’ve been communicating the closure in advance to local communities and businesses, more information is available on our website, and we thank drivers in advance for their patience while the work takes place.”

The new carriageway is scheduled to be opened in winter 2023/2024 and in the meantime more information and further scheme updates are available at A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross.

The cost of developing the scheme is being partly funded by an £8 million contribution from the European Regional Development Fund, with an additional £12 million for the construction phase. The remainder of the cost of developing and delivering the scheme is being funded by central Government.

Notes to Editors

National Highways is the wholly government-owned company responsible for modernising, maintaining and operating England’s motorways and major A roads.

Real-time traffic information for England’s motorways and major A roads is available via the Traffic England website, local and national radio travel bulletins, electronic road signs and mobile apps. Local Twitter services are also available.

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