A4 no longer Interoute’s responsibility

Part of the A4 that runs between the Hicks Gate roundabout at Keynsham and the Twerton Fork traffic lights has been classified as a trunk road for many years.

Negotiations have been ongoing with Bath and North East Somerset Council regarding detrunking of this road for several years as part of a national detrunking exercise.

This resulted from an exercise carried out under the Governments "New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone" programme in 1998 whereby the Department for Transport identified and de-trunked a number of former core national routes which could then be managed by local authorities.

Along with a number of other authorities across the country, since 9 April 2008 all maintenance responsibilities for the A4 now lay with Bath and North East Somerset Council. In future anyone who wishes to report defects must now contact Council Connect on 01225 394041 who will take the call and refer this to the appropriate section within the Council who can respond to the enquiry.

The biggest implication of the transfer of responsibility is that works on the dual carriageway sections of this road will normally require extensive traffic management and works that are not classed as an emergency may require further planning in order that the defects can be safely addressed.

The handover included the taking into Council ownership of all street lighting, traffic signal, management of utilities and other works on the highway, highway inspections, reactive highway repairs, drainage, verge cutting and tree maintenance , winter gritting, bridges and other structures.