Official opening of new junction in Priddy
On Thursday 24 October our Octavius Regional Civil Engineering (ORCE) celebrated the official opening the New Miner’s Arms Junction in Priddy with local councillors, including Councillor Richard Wilkins, Somerset Council Executive Lead Member for Transport and Waste Services, along with members of the public and the ORCE project team.
The existing Miner’s Arms crossroads near Priddy in Somerset was renowned as a collision hot spot, with numerous serious and fatal crashes in the area. According to Avon and Somerset Police, in the last 20 years there have been 37 known collisions at the site, and it is considered likely that there may have been many more unreported incidents. To improve road safety and reduce the risk of further harm the work began on the B3135/B3134 intersection in April 2024 to realign the entire junction, building a new staggered crossroads to reduce accidents and save lives.
The works also included signing, lining, extensive drainage work and a new 40mph speed limit. Also, due to it’s location in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB), the landscaping was in accordance with the setting and Octavius helped to preserve the area’s natural beauty as the stone from former crossroads was recovered from the site and used to build hundreds of feet of dry-stone wall.
Miner's Arms was the first project awarded to Octavius through the New Assets Framework by Somerset County Council, and we are immensely proud that we have successfully completed this essential project to the delight of our customer, Somerset Council. The improvements we’ve made will significantly enhance long-term public safety and ultimately save lives. Completing a project in such a notorious safety blackspot required meticulous planning and execution. Throughout the six months of work, there was not a single traffic incident, due to the careful traffic management systems that we implemented. Now, with the new staggered crossing in place, this junction will have a profound and lasting impact on road safety for all users.
