A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross

Latest updates

• 06 September 2024

  Our work this autumn

  Now that the school summer holidays are over, we'll continue our finishing work through the autumn.

  Closures and traffic management

  We'll need some closures and traffic control on local roads while we work.

  B3277 link road from Chiverton junction to the services roundabout - 9 September to 23 September

  We'll fully close the link road 24/7 from Monday 9 September 9am to Monday 23 September 6am.

  Diversion

  If you're heading from the A30 to St Agnes you'll be diverted:

  • along the A30 to Scorrier junction
  •  then through Blackwater to re-join the B3277 at the Services roundabout

  If you're travelling in the opposite direction, use the same diversion in reverse.

  B3277 diversion map.

  A3075 temporary traffic lights - Monday 9 September for up to six weeks

  We’ll install temporary traffic lights on the A3075 near Chiverton junction

  They will operate from 9.30am to 4pm each day.

  The lights won't be in place during the Little Orchard cider and music festival.

  Upcoming A30 overnight lane closures

  We'll need further overnight lane closures on the new section of the A30 later this autumn.

  These will be on the east and westbound carriageways in different locations. The closures won't limit the use of the new A30.

  We’ll give you more further information on this page.

  Please plan ahead and allow extra time for your journeys.

  Memorial motorcycle run

  The 37th annual Martin Jennings Memorial motorcycle run through Cornwall will take place on Sunday 15 September.

  This is a large scale motorcycle event raising money for charity. Up to 2,000 riders are expected on a number of county roads.

  The route includes a section of the new dual carriageway. Riders will join the A30 at Cornwall Services. Between 1pm and 3pm they’ll ride westbound before leaving the A30 at Camborne.

  There are no traffic restrictions in place but this section of the A30 will be very busy. There are likely to be delays

  Please plan ahead. Avoid this section of the A30 in the early afternoon, if you can. If possible, find an alternative route.

  How can we find out more?

  For more information, you can:

  • email us at: a30chivertontocarlandcross@nationalhighways.co.uk
  • call us on: 0300 123 5000

  You can also follow us on X and Facebook for up-to-date scheme information and updates on roadworks across the region.

• 24 June 2024

  We’re open for traffic!

  This morning the first cars made their way along the newly opened A30 dual carriageway between Chiverton and Carland Cross.

  We’d like to thank the people of Cornwall for their patience over the last few years while our teams have carried out this work.

  While everyone gets used to this major route, we’d like to remind motorists to drive safely and familiarise themselves with the layout of the new junctions:

  Chiverton junction

  

  Chybucca junction

  

  Carland Cross junction

  

• 23 February 2024

  New A30 dual carriageway enters final stages

  We’re now in the final stages of our A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross upgrade project and will soon be preparing for the opening of the new dual carriageway later this year, before the school summer holidays.

  Since the scheme received its Development Consent Order in February 2020, we’ve faced some significant challenges but despite these, we’ve made good progress.

  The original Delivery Plan target date to open the new dual carriageway to traffic was the end of March 2024. However, since the start of construction, the programme of work has had to adapt to the effects of both the pandemic and growing weather challenges.

  Between January 2021 and August 2023 there were 14 Met Office classified storms and since last August alone there have been an unprecedented total of 10 storms affecting Cornwall. As a result of the impact of the recent bad weather, we’re now expecting the road to be open for traffic in June.

  The recent Chiverton flyover and Chybucca junction openings were significant milestones for the project and we’ll now be progressing with work on the new Carland Cross junction and ‘green bridge’ structure at Marazanvose.

• 19 December 2023

  Chiverton flyover partially reopened

  We are now in the final stage of the project – huge progress has been made in 2023 and we are now preparing for the opening of the new A30 in 2024.

  Last week we partially opened the Chiverton flyover - a major milestone for the project. This has alleviated congestion as we now have one lane of east-west traffic in either direction bypassing the interchange without queuing. Local journeys north and south are also improved as drivers will no longer have to interact with the A30 mainline traffic.

• 31 May 2023

  Chiverton Cross interchange to be installed

  We've reached a major milestone on the project and will be installing the new Chiverton Cross interchange in June.

  Following the installation traffic will use a new layout at Chiverton.  The new layout will keep access open to the A390, A3075 and B3277 while we continue our work this year.

  

• 21 February 2023

  Watch Tolgroggan bridge lift

  We installed a new bridge over the A30 in double-quick time last weekend as part of our Chiverton to Carland Cross road dualling scheme in Cornwall.

  The Tolgroggan access bridge has spanned the A30 near Zelah for 32 years and needed to be replaced to accommodate the new dual carriageway and the existing road between the Chiverton and Carland roundabouts.

  Despite mist and mizzle, weather conditions and wind speeds remained suitable for the lifting operation and the new 137ft (42-metre) twin-beam overbridge was lifted into place by a 650-tonne crawler crane on Saturday afternoon.

  Our Engineers then undertook tying-in work on the bridge, dismantling and transporting of the crane and extensive site and traffic management clearance. We managed to reopen the A30 to motorists at 2pm on Sunday – some 16 hours ahead of the anticipated opening on Monday morning.

  The new bridge weighs 275 tonnes, the equivalent weight of 23 double decker buses or 887,097 standard Cornish pasties and will eventually span the existing A30 road and four lanes of the new carriageway.

  You can see a timelapse footage of the weekend works in the video below.

  Now in position, our work will concentrate on construction of the new road, with the existing bridge to be demolished later this year.

  Neil Winter, National Highways Senior Project Manager for the A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross upgrade, said: “We thank people for their patience and co-operation while we carried out the work. The operation went as planned and although the weather wasn’t the greatest, conditions were favourable and the preparation work paid dividends.

  “It’s a key milestone for the project, and now that we have the new bridge in place we will be able to switch our attention to the other structures along the route.

  “As part of the scheme, we’re building 13 new structures in all, both under and over the new A30, with one existing underbridge at Two Burrows, a short distance from Tolgroggan, being refurbished.”

  

• 11 January 2023

  Work continues on all structures

  We’ve continued to work on all the structures, this included pouring concrete bridge decks at Chiverton, Chybucca, Tolgroggan and Carland. We’ve also installed bridge beams at Marazanvose allowing us to plan for the concrete deck pour and other work on this structure.

  We’ve made good progress on our drainage work with the use of a specialist trenching machine in areas where there is hard rock.

  We also completed our roadworks between Chybucca and Chiverton. This meant that we were able to realign the A30 through the Four Burrows and Chiverton junction area at the beginning of December.

  Next steps

  We’re getting ready to install a new bridge at Tolgroggan. This will replace the existing bridge which we will demolish later this year. We will need a weekend closure of the A30 to carry out this work safely, we’re just finalising our plans and will provide an update on the date for this shortly.

  

  (Bridge beams being lifted into place last year for the new bridge at Tolgroggan)

  Over the next few months we’re aiming to complete the:

  • underbridges at Chiverton East and Carland Cross
  • road surfacing in the Hill View area on the A30 westbound carriageway
  • roadworks at Henver Lane.This will allow access to the northern part of the new Trevalso Lane underbridge to start over the next few months.

  We will also be:

  • changing the traffic management at Trevissome Park to allow access to the A390
  • realigning the A30 at Zelah so that we can start work on the underbridge there.

• 10 August 2022

  Cornish home produce is core to greener A30 road upgrade

  

  Cornwall’s very own china clay mining industry is playing a big part in the construction of our major A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross upgrade.

  Sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint are key drivers behind construction of the 8.7-mile dualling scheme, and to that end contractors Costain Jacobs and supply chain Aggregate Industries are tapping into natural Cornish materials and a significant investment in local companies.

  Larger infrastructure projects typically use millions of tonnes of aggregate – representing a large carbon footprint – but as with other modern-day road building schemes, the A30 project is utilising a by-product from the china clay mining industry.

  The residue, known as stent, would normally have no use and be left in white spoil heaps, scarring the local landscape. Instead, the material from the Littlejohns Pit near St Austell is being processed into sustainable secondary sand and aggregate for construction use.

  And just down the road, this is now being used as an engineering alternative across the A30 project, not only reducing the embodied carbon but also saving on the transport carbon cost.

  Compared to the 5kg Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per tonne carbon emission of virgin aggregate, the locally imported material is around 2kg CO2e per tonne, representing a reduction of around 3kg CO2e per tonne of aggregate used.

  Added to that, Aggregate Industries has also invested over £4 million in the nearby Melbur Quarry at St Stephen to produce more carbon friendly warm mix asphalt for the new road surfacing.

  Fully approved by National Highways, warm mix asphalt is a greener process that has less impact on the environment, with reduced hydrocarbon emissions and greenhouse gases. Due to its lower temperature, it is also safer for construction workers to use.

  Warm mix asphalt is produced using temperatures up to 49 degrees Celsius lower than that used for traditional hot mix asphalt so less energy is needed in the heating process, meaning less fuel and a reduction in the plant's carbon footprint.

  Roads Minister Baroness Vere said:

  “The A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross upgrade will reduce congestion, improve journey times and provide much-needed connection for local businesses.

  "By using natural Cornish materials, we are also ensuring the scheme has a much lower carbon impact and provides a further boost to the local community, which is exactly the kind of innovation we want to see as we strive towards a net zero road network.”

  Nick Simmonds-Screech, National Highways Project Director for the A30 scheme, added:

  “We’re already really proud of our environmental and ecological work – we’re forecasting a net biodiversity gain in the region of 20% – and this greener way of working also spreads to our construction methods and material supply.

  "We all have a part to play in reducing our carbon footprint and adapting to climate change, and modern road building methods are certainly playing a part in this.

  “The move towards warm mix asphalts allows us to not only achieve huge efficiency savings but also reduce carbon as we strive for net zero by 2040.

  “Carbon reduction, along with ensuring our roads provide smooth, safe, and efficient journeys for motorists, are key and something we are constantly striving to improve for generations to come.”

  As part of our Net Zero Plan, we're committed to reducing our maintenance and construction carbon emissions to net zero by 2040.

  On the Cornwall upgrade, Costain Jacobs and its contractors are also tapping into local skills and supplies as construction on the £330 million scheme progresses.

  Aside from the aggregate and asphalt production, this includes the:

  • employment of site managers and engineers from the local area
  • use of Devoran Metals for reinforcement on the project
  • daily use of a local scaffold supplier
  • use of smaller suppliers of timber products
  • engagement with local colleges and the Camborne School of Mines.

  John Lee, Costain Project Director, said:

  “It’s been good to tap into local skills and materials, we’re making excellent progress with the construction works and on course for the new road to be open to traffic in winter 2023.

  “We’re also committed to working with National Highways and its Net Zero Plan and the use of warm mix asphalts and china clay by-products is playing a big part in the A30 helping to reduce the carbon impact of construction.”

• 02 December 2021

  Exciting archaeology finds on the A30

  Since August 2020, the A30 team have been conducting archaeology investigations to record, report and preserve the archaeological findings along the A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross scheme.

  The Archaeological Contractor, Cornwall Archaeological Unit (CAU), has discovered artefacts from the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition period (around 6,000 years ago), the Bronze age (around 4,500-3,000 years ago), the Medieval period (around 12-13^th Century), and the World War Two period.

  Throughout the summer of 2021, we have hosted volunteer events to assist with our archaeological investigations in targeted areas.

  Targeted areas include Penny-Come-Quick and Ventonteague, where the finds include a clearly defined post ringfeature (pictured). We are still progressing with the excavation of the surrounding area to uncover the full archaeological background; however initial investigations show that this is likely to be the remains of a stone circle.

  

  Aerial view of pit ring at Penny-Come-Quick. Source: Jamie Lewis, Costain

  We are also conducting a flint scatter in an area known as Ventonteague. We have found over 6,500 flints in this area and are continuing investigations to locate the epicentre of the flint scatter activity. These flints suggest the use of Mesolithic hunting weapons, processing tools such as scrapers and axes, suggesting an that there was an extensive knapping area at Ventonteague.

  The flint from these flint scatters is likely to have been transported from areas such as the neighbouring coastline in Devon or Somerset as flint does not naturally occur in this area of Cornwall. The knapping area at Ventonegue can therefore be indicative of a manufacturing area where a range of tools would have been produced for a variety of uses, such as for hunting game and butchering meat. Investigations have uncovered signs of a 6,000–8,000-year-old water culvert in this area, supporting the theory of repeated settlement and activity in the area.

  

  A flint found at Ventonteague, which is a core for striking blades off. Source: Cornwall Archaeological Unit.

  Other excavations have uncovered two roundhouses in the Tolgroggan area which are likely from the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age and would have been used as a domestic dwelling. One roundhouse also featured a post ring (a central area of pits and post/stakeholes), flint tools and a pot located centrally in the ring centre.

  

  Archaeological team carefully excavating a prehistoric pot in Tolgroggan. Source: Cornwall Archaeological Unit.

  The A30 team are continuing with these archaeological investigations with the support from Cornwall Archaeological Unit and the hard-working volunteers.

  To keep in contact with the scheme, please contact A30ChivertonToCarlandCross@HighwaysEngland.co.uk or contact the Customer Contact Centre on 0300 123 5000.

• 16 April 2020

  Development Consent Order granted

  We were granted a Development Consent Order (DCO) on 6 February 2020 which allows us to build the design as submitted to the planning inspectorate (PINS).

  We awarded a contract for the work to Costain on the 31 March 2020. In March, we also began preliminary works for the scheme. This includes the diversion of utilities, survey work to inform the detailed design and some site set-up work as we move through the summer.