The A338 is being totally rebuilt. The council is carrying out a full depth reconstruction, to be finished off with a new lower-noise surface layer. They will be upgrading the central safety barrier to concrete, improving drainage to solve flooding and ‘ponding’ problems and adding a 1m hard strip to give extra space for cars to move over for emergency vehicles or in case of breakdowns. The northbound carriageway will be temporarily resurfaced to make sure it lasts while the southbound carriageway is being rebuilt.
When does it start?
Work starts on September 6 with overnight lane closures.
Daytime lane closures start on September 7, with traffic remaining on its usual carriageways.
The contraflow system (see below) starts on September 21, first northbound, then southbound from March 2016.
What’s closed?
Traffic will be reduced to a single lane in each direction from September 7 until the end of May.
The road will be totally closed northbound from 8pm-6am on September 6 and again from September 8-19, to allow the temporary resurfacing on the northbound carriageway. A signed diversion via the B3073 will be in place (see below)
There are two Sunday night FULL road closures on September 20 and January 3, from 8pm -6am.
From September 21 until Christmas the road will be closed southbound from the QinetiQ access, with a contraflow in place.
From January 4 until February the top part of the southbound carriage will be closed with traffic heading south diverted onto the contraflow on the northbound carriageway.
From Feburary to March, the top part of the Northbound carriageway will be closed, with traffic crossing to the newly rebuilt southbound carriageway at the QinetiQ access.
From March to May, the northbound carriageway will be closed from the QinetiQ access to Blackwater, with a contraflow on the newly rebuilt southbound carriageway.
What will the speed limit be?
The limit will be 40mph for the duration of the works.
When will it finish?
The road should be fully reopened by the end of May, with some finishing works scheduled for June.
What does the council say the impact will be?
The council is warning of “significant impact” to travel times, particularly at the start of the works. Routes around the A338 are likely to get extremely congested. The council is urging people to think about car sharing, using the bus or train or travelling at non-peak times.
Why are they doing it?
The Spur Road is more than 40 years old and its foundations are crumbling, making the road surface crack (and making it very noisy) Resurfacing the road wouldn’t be enough, so it’s being totally rebuilt. It carries around 59,000 vehicles per day of which 3.7% (2,200 vehicles) are HGVs, which makes it Dorset’s most heavily trafficked road.
Why isn’t there an official alternative route?
Two reasons: first, a official diversion is only required when a road is fully closed in one direction, which is why there will be a signed diversion during the overnight closures in September. Once the contraflow is in place, the council is not required to have a signed diversion route . Second, they CAN’T have an official alternative route, because regulations say traffic can only be diverted onto a route of similar category – and there are no other north/south ‘A’ roads into Bournemouth.
So it’s a free for all?
Effectively, yes. The council has highlighted the roads they expect to get extra traffic.
HGVS will be warned away from using Matchams Lane and there’s a handy guide to when the likely alternative routes were last resurfaced below - it may help you decide what you want to do.
What days of the week are they working?
They will be working 24 hours, Monday to Saturday. Read more about why it’s not 24/7 here.
What are my alternative modes of travel?
If you normally drive from the east along the A31, South-West trains operate the rail line into Bournemouth. There are roughly two trains an hour and they take about 45 minutes from Southampton.
Buses will of course have to find their own way through the traffic. More Bus are adding 5-10 minutes to their X3 journey times . There will be fewer services to Verwood, and from Ringwood to Ferndown. You can get details here.
This means for many people, there will not be many alternatives - so consider changing your journey time to avoid peak hours or car sharing. The councils recommend dorset.liftshare.com.
Anything else I need to know?
The council has issued a Section 58 notice for Spur Road – meaning utility companies can’t dig up the road for five years from the start of the reconstruction work.
What about the section from Blackwater to Cooper Dean?
The Spur Road rebuild is part of a five step plan for road improvements, called the Bournemouth Airport Growth Hub Infrastructure Programme. Also included in the plan is the widening of the A338 from Cooperdean to Blackwater Junction to three lanes instead of two. Read more about that here
Where can I get more information?
We’ll be live-blogging from 6am on September 7 to keep you up to date with traffic issues, closure updates and general information. Bookmark Spur Road news from the Bournemouth Echo for all our coverage.
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Comments (17)
A338 Spur Road rebuild: what you need to know before September 6
7:08am Fri 21 Aug 15
The-Bleeding-Obvious says…
Surely nothing can happen until the ‘lizard fence’ is rebuilt?
Score: 4
Quote Report this post
8:16am Fri 21 Aug 15
j123 says…
Being someone that uses this to commute 5 or 6 days a week I am not very excited about this… 
Score: 8
Quote Report this post
9:20am Fri 21 Aug 15
PokesdownMark says…
Hopefully the powers that be understand that any lane closure for northbound traffic that is within a quarter mile of cooper dean will cause a queue that will extend back and disrupt castle lane. When that happens the chaos spreads very quickly in all directions!
.
Hopefully, again lots of hopefully! drivers will better understand how to zip merge, not trying to merge too early, approaching the merge point having created a space in front of them and merging in an alternating fashion. I’ve a feeling we’re going to be getting a lot of practice and Zip Merge proficiency could be make or break for these works?!
Score: 9
Quote Report this post
9:23am Fri 21 Aug 15
■■■■ U says…
one word = gridlock
Score: 1
Quote Report this post
9:23am Fri 21 Aug 15
BoscVegas says…
j123 wrote…
Being someone that uses this to commute 5 or 6 days a week I am not very excited about this…
Ditto but i suppose we can’t really complain as we (the motorist) have been requesting this road to be upgraded for a few years.
I have been meaning to listen to my lord of the rings audiobook again. it’s 54 hours long so should just about last for the first fortnight of commutes
Score: 9
Quote Report this post
9:53am Fri 21 Aug 15
devilsadvocateqc says…
What a top idea to make part of the road a three lane section…
Not. Just look at the queues that form when the three lane M27 suddenly becomes the two lane A31
Score: -1
Quote Report this post
11:16am Fri 21 Aug 15
coypondboy says…
what happens when an accident occurs ?
Score: 0
Quote Report this post
11:19am Fri 21 Aug 15
Bonkeydollocks says…
I still see the advice is to use the train. So please can the council advise me how to take a train from Ringwood to Bournemouth (or Ringwood to anywhere for that matter). And maybe the main reason there isn’t an official alternative route to the Spur Road is because the council have allowed so much housing and other growth without making sure the surrounding infrastructure is also upgraded to be able to cope? So think CastlePoint, RBH, JP Morgan, Tesco, RIAS and many housing developments too.
Score: 7
Quote Report this post
11:21am Fri 21 Aug 15
Speak up Brown says…
coypondboy wrote…
what happens when an accident occurs ?
Mayhem!
Score: 4
Quote Report this post
11:47am Fri 21 Aug 15
the_voice_of_reason says…
What I don’t understand is why they are not concentrating on the section from the Copper Dean to Blackwater first. That would help to relieve some of the traffic from the queues up and down the Spur Road at it’s busiest point when they rebuild the rest of the road. It is the reason for making it three lanes in the first place!
Score: 0
Quote Report this post
12:13pm Fri 21 Aug 15
covered in ants says…
It’s going to be a huge nightmare but if the road system is to be improved, some pain is to be expected. Can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, after all.
Score: 5
Quote Report this post
12:14pm Fri 21 Aug 15
covered in ants says…
can’t make an omelette without diverting the eggs through matchams
Score: 1
Quote Report this post
12:18pm Fri 21 Aug 15
carleatspeas says…
I drive from Poole to Southampton every day. This part of the road is not the problem. Its the A31 by Ringwood and through the forest that is.
Why on earth are they spending the money here■■?
Score: -2
Quote Report this post
1:10pm Fri 21 Aug 15
Mangiafuoco says…
The-Bleeding-Obvious wrote…
Surely nothing can happen until the ‘lizard fence’ is rebuilt?
I was just thinking that. Maybe the lizards are on holiday this time of year or maybe when the time comes they will supply them with “hi vis” jackets.
Last time round they wasted, correct me if I am wrong, one million pounds on a “lizard barrier” (black binliners on wooden pegs) which in the end was never required because the improvement works never got underway, but that’s another story.
Why is this barrier not required this time round■■? Would love to know. Maybe there is a perfectly feasible scientific explanation. It could be that the “Lizard Barrier” engineers made enough money out of the last one that they retired and are now sunning themselves in Spain together with the “Surf Reef Barrier” engineers.
Score: 4
Quote Report this post
1:47pm Fri 21 Aug 15
scrumpyjack says…
BoscVegas wrote…
j123 wrote…
Being someone that uses this to commute 5 or 6 days a week I am not very excited about this…
Ditto but i suppose we can’t really complain as we (the motorist) have been requesting this road to be upgraded for a few years.
I have been meaning to listen to my lord of the rings audiobook again. it’s 54 hours long so should just about last for the first fortnight of commutes
That is a great tip.
Do Mills & Boon do audio books?
Or I could finally learn a foreign language.
“le singe est assis dans l’arbre”, the monkey sits in the tree. “le singe est assis dans l’arbre”, the monkey sits in the tree.
Score: 0
Quote Report this post
1:47pm Fri 21 Aug 15
scrumpyjack says…
devilsadvocateqc wrote…
What a top idea to make part of the road a three lane section…
Not. Just look at the queues that form when the three lane M27 suddenly becomes the two lane A31
What is your top idea then?
Score: 2
Quote Report this post
2:44pm Fri 21 Aug 15
old bod says…
I am looking forward to cycling up the whole spur road with all the motorists stuck behind me when its down to one lane either way , or maybe I will stick to matchams lane just to be nice 
Score: 0
Quote Report this post
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