A361 North Devon Link Road upgrade nears completion

Work continues on the critical upgrade for a vital transport corridor for our sub-region.  

Many have lamented the fact that when the North Devon Link Road was originally planned it was scheduled to be a dual carriageway. 

No one is quite certain as to how or why it was downgraded all those years ago to provide the current two and three-lane carriageway.

 It could be that some mandarin in the Department of Transport felt that this change would not greatly influence the outcome for our region. 

How wrong was that judgement?  

Whilst the road itself does provide an economic and social corridor, we all know how challenging a route it is.  There have sadly been far too many road accidents and fatalities.

Strict speed controls and cameras have helped to reduce this.

Nevertheless, it is an unpredictable journey which has left many of us frustrated. 

It is not the greatest welcome for our tens of thousands of holiday visitors and a miserable end to their holiday when queuing up on the return journey.

Both district councils and many of our senior politicians made it their top priority to ensure that the road should be upgraded.  This tough battle was with both the Department of Transport and the Treasury.

There was never any question about the need for the upgrade.  This was all about prioritising the funds.  

Eventually, however, the budget was awarded for this and at least part of the original vision for the road was set in motion.  We have all lived with the disruption caused by the construction work.

The long-term gain has been recognised by everyone, which has helped to contain any frustration.  

The main contractors inevitably experienced unanticipated difficulties, which meant that the budget costs started shooting up. 

It proved impossible to find additional funding and therefore a modified scheme was agreed as a compromise.  

The expectation of completion was further affected by the almost unprecedented bad weather we have experienced over the last six months.

Constant rain is the greatest enemy of a groundworks contractor.

Site stabilisation cannot be achieved, vital machinery cannot operate and the working conditions for the contractors are utterly miserable.  

This is, however, the first piece of luck we have had.

For many road schemes that were just starting, these adverse weather conditions proved almost impossible to manage and delayed both the start and planned finish dates.

It is fortunate for us that many of the sections of road for our scheme were sufficiently well advanced for these weather impacts to be minimised.

There will be some delays but not nearly as bad as many other major highway schemes.

The second piece of luck we have had is that the scheme is nearing completion.

It is quite simply the case that if the project had not started, the chances of delivering it now would be extremely remote.

There is a brutal construction skills shortage which is being experienced across the country.  There are also huge problems with cost escalation.

Undoubtedly, the greatest problem is the shortage of skilled labour.

An industry expert has calculated that the UK needs to hire 500,000 people to meet demand for both schemes that are under way or schemes which are critical to our national posterity, such as the Lower Thames Crossing, the expansion and upgrade of the National Grid and the work on the Stonehenge tunnel.  

High profile projects that are still under way are hoovering up available labour.

HS2 alone employs two per cent of the UK’s entire construction workforce.  

Preparations for the new nuclear power station Sizewell C are already in recruitment. 

Hinkley C is not yet finished and is now employing around 10,000 workers against the original total estimated staff requirement of 6,000.

In practice, because of the persistent delays on this project, it could be 2030 before work is completed.  

There is still a national priority to finish the Thames Tideway Tunnel. 

Into the mix now, also, we have to take account of the ongoing requirements from Babcock in Plymouth to upgrade naval capabilities for new MoD contracts.

Recruitment has also just started for the battery factory just outside Bridgwater.

It is estimated that this will need around 2,000 workers.

All this comes at a time when the construction industry is recovering.

In 2008, the workforce was over 2.6 million.

Since then it has lost around 465,000 workers for a variety of reasons.

All of this means that this chronic shortage will continue.  

This is where we have had a huge slice of luck.

The work on the North Devon Link Road will be completed but if it had started four years later, then we might very well still be wondering if and when it would ever start.  

We should record that you make your own luck.

The work done by our public sector to secure this project and see it through is the reason why we are in this great position.

We know that the chance of there being any new money is extremely unlikely as the government coffers are bare.

The challenge for us now is to ensure that we use this opportunity to fully benefit our economy and our communities.

This is not just an opportunity to travel out of the region a bit quicker.