SC21065 Sturry Link Road

This is a Prior Information Notice to notify Contractors of our intention to procure the following from mid-November 2021: The A28 Sturry Road is a principal road corridor between Canterbury and Thanet that also serves residents and businesses to the north east of Canterbury and Sturry. At Sturry, the A291 Sturry Hill provides a link to Herne Bay. The section of A28 through Sturry is particularly difficult because of the level crossing of the Canterbury - Thanet railway line and the inevitable interruption to traffic and queuing through the centre of the community. At present there are approximately 18,000 vehicles per day using the level crossing at Sturry. This is the combination of traffic from Herne Bay via the A291 and Thanet via the A28 joining and heading towards Canterbury City Centre. The provision of the Sturry Link Road is a priority scheme for Canterbury in KCC’s Local Transport Plan 4: Growth Without Gridlock 2016-2030. Canterbury City Council's District Local Plan, adopted in July 2017, has identified land at Sturry and Broad Oak, which lies north of the railway and west of the A28/A291, as a suitable allocation for 1150 homes, and specifies assorted infrastructure improvements including a Sturry Link Road to relieve the level crossing and access the new housing, together with station access improvements. Other land use allocations at Hersden and towards Herne Bay are also in part related to the Sturry Link Road. The link road is designed to remove the need for mainline traffic on the A28 (from Thanet district) and the A291/A28 (from Herne Bay, a satellite town of Canterbury) to cross the level crossing at Sturry, by means of an alternative bridge. Traffic then continues through the Canterbury urban area towards the city center via the A28 or a parallel route (Broad Oak Rd). The Sturry Link Road project will deliver a viaduct from the A28 over the River Great Stour and Railway connecting to a new roundabout on the element of the proposed road being built as part of the adjacent development. It will also deliver alterations to the existing A28/A291 junction. Delivery of the project will address significant congestion on the transport network by enabling traffic using the A28 and A291 to avoid the level crossing at Sturry. As a result of the improvements, development sites to the north of the railway will be unlocked to provide 4500 dependent dwellings.