The A30, and Other Stories

The most westerly section of A30 dual carriageway is the Longrock by-pass just east of Penzance. It is the only section of concrete trunk road in Cornwall. It was built by A. Monk Civil Engineering around 1985/86 we believe. The concrete train took a week to run west bound, a second week was spent to turn it around before it returned to run the east bound carriageway. This is one of the jobs we have experience of working on and have found a few photographs of in our archive.

Hayle By-Pass, Nanspusker 1984

Hayle By-Pass joins with the Camborne-Redruth By-Pass. Two major viaducts feature on this project, but this is a job from before our time. Built between 1972-75 we believe by Costain. Redruth had been by-passed previously in 1939 and hence the population of the rival town Camborne joked it was such a s*#t hole it had to be by-passed twice!! Sorry we can’t add much more about this project. We think Nick Powell (Engineer) and John Bartle (foreman) were on the scheme. We can add however that the Tolvaddon interchange bridge underwent major maintenance in 2008?? which was carried out by Dean & Dyball Civil Engineering. 

Blackwater By-Pass Carnhott under bridge 1987

Hayle Viaduct looking East

Blackwater By-Pass. Scorrier 1987

At Carland Cross the A30 links with A39 Trispen By-Pass to Truro. A 1996/97 project built by Nuttall, set out by us of course! That’s a different story though so let’s get back to the A30.

 East of Carland Cross and running to Indian Queens is the Mitchell & Summercourt By-Pass. Another section designed by Cornwall CC, this scheme started in July 1990 and opened fully in December 1991. Fairclough Civil Engineering (now AMEC) was the main contractor. A big scheme for us at Kemp as we were on site from start to finish. Lots of names to drop in, for Fairclough; Colin Edwards, John Crow, Alan Day, Simon Jukes, Bill Baxter, John Nichols, Paul Liddicoat, Steve Doe, Terry Ackerell, Anthony Wherry, Steve Hay. Some of the Kemp team, Austin O’Reilley, Rich Leinster, Scott Kemp. Cornwall CC’s RE staff included Peter Swain, Terry Dengler, Tim Wood, Dave Simpson, Nigel Tammo, Peter Tredget, to name but a few.

Continuing east we now meet the infamous Goss-Moor section of the A30. This “missing link” was a longtime bottleneck for tourists and commuters alike. The infamous iron bridge with its restricted head room that took the Newquay rail line over the A30 was an obstacle that many lorries failed to navigate and which caused many a tailback as they had to be extracted from its clutches.

The scheme was designed by Scott Wilson and constructed by Alfred McAlpine 2005-07 in what was one of the last projects the contractor completed before being swallowed by Carillion. 11 km of dual carriageway was set out by the Kemp team included Jay Durber, Gary Pearce, Ian Bruzon, Steve Payne, under the leadership of big Dave Wallington. Name checks for McAlpine, Keith Titman, Ian Driscoll, Mike Follet, Rob Love, Chris Thomas, Paul Ladner, Andy Daddow. This project saw the birth of Cornish groundworks firm WBM when Mike Follett joined father and son team John and Martin Nichols. Since the scheme opened in 2007 Victoria Services have appeared, again set out by Kemp for Dawnus Construction.

Innis Downs

Goss Moor levelling survey

Does Bodmin By-Pass join with the more recent Temple Improvement built by Kier Civil Engineering in 2017-19? or were there some smaller improvements? We think the latter but are unable to shed any light on this. Temple was definitely described as a “missing link” and the A30 Goss Moor bottle neck moved here for a number of years between 2007 and the opening of the Temple section. Mace oversaw the project, and we can name drop Richard Vosper on this section although as a business we had limited involvement beyond our Seeka Utility Survey division carrying out advanced detection work for the Highways Agency. 

We believe that the eastern end of the Temple scheme is where the Hawkstor improvement was built although we stand to be corrected, there may have been another link? Hawkstor was designed by Cornwall CC we think and built in the 1980s? We’re not sure of the main contractor but Rush and Tomkins? was mentioned but again we stand to be corrected on this relatively small section and maybe it was a localised junction improvement by CCC’s DLO.

 The Hawkstor scheme joins with the Shallowater Hill project. We are right on the moor now. This is where the flooded china clay quarry is on the north side of the A30 and where the east and west carriageways are on separate alignments as the road moves east under the accommodation bridge and through the rock cutting. This is another scheme set out by Kemp. This was for Christiani & Nielsen on this occasion (we can name drop Doug McCallum for Christiani) with local drilling contractor Saxton responsible for placing the dynamite that took out the rock cutting out. Cornwall CC was again the consultant, and we remember Jim Austin being one of their team which was possibly his last job before retiring. The road was built through 1994. Most of our setting out was carried out with a Sokkia optical theodolite coupled with a Leica D1000 EDM….and a calculator of course! I doubt that combination got any use on the latest Carland to Chiverton Section. 

Shallowater Hill was extended by around a km or so a couple of years later with a relatively simple at grade additional carriageway and on line widening undertaken by Associated Asphalt we think. This is where there is an ancient Celtic Cross adjacent the west bound carriageway.

 As we remain in the heart of the moor we now come to the Plusha to Bolventor scheme. This by-passes Jamaica Inn that gave its name to the famous novel by Daphne Du Maurier and which is visible at the top of the cutting south of the A30 at Bolventor. This project was built by Balfour Beatty during the same period as the Mitchell/Summercourt By-Pass further west in the early 1990s. We are pretty sure Cornwall Council were again the consulting engineers. We think Steve Copeland may have been part of the CCC team and John Speak part of Balfour’s in house survey team.

Launceston By-Pass

In 2006 from memory the original Dunheved bridge decks were replaced by Dean & Dyball. Kemp provided the contractor with survey support. The replacement work kept 4 lanes of traffic running by building the west bound deck offline and then diverting traffic onto the new deck and putting east bound onto the original west bound deck. The original east bound bridge was then demolished and replaced before east bound traffic was reintroduced. The original west bound deck was then demolished before during a night closure the “temporary” southern deck was slid/jacked onto the original west bound alignment. As you wiz over the bridge the additional earthworks that enabled the offline diversion can still be seen. Struggling with name drops beyond our own Andy Saunders.

Coming Home Trees. Launceston to Okehampton 1992

Longrock By-Pass 1986

Mitchell-Summercourt 1990/91. St Enoder overbridge looking East

Dowell Bar Placer

Moving west from Longrock the A30 remains a single carriageway (there is still a missing link!!). At Hayle the towns by-pass is technically not dual carriageway but a mixture of 2,3 and 4 lane, we’ll include it anyway as it is another project that we have experience of. Constructed between 1982 and 1984 the 14km scheme included a multi-span viaduct at St Erth and was built by Alfred McAlpine and designed by Freeman Fox and Partners. Name checks for Alfred McAlpine; Keith Titman, Peter Cousins (2m Peter), John Nichols, for Freeman Fox: David Hayhoe, Neil Homerton, John Bartle? Richard Gilbert, for CCC; Paul Allen, Rob Sampson, Richard Hocking.

Camborne - Redruth By-Pass, 1970s. Blowinghouse Viaduct construction

The east end of Camborne/Redruth by-pass joins the Blackwater By-Pass. This is another one we have experience of. Built in 1987/88 by AE Farr Civil Engineering and designed by Cornwall Council. This scheme joined into the infamous Chiverton roundabout which our MD reminds us he surveyed to enable the new Blackwater arm to link in. A few name checks on this, for AE Farr; Dave Shrimpton, Graham Hopton, Robin Boon, Dave (Hoagie Bear) Hogan and for Cornwall Council; Roger Hargreaves, Clive Thomson, Mike Peters, Des Teale, John Brooks.

Of course, from Chiverton to Carland we now have the latest missing link to be completed. This £330m project has been built by Costain and designed by Jacobs. We won’t go on too much about this one as we’re indulging in some nostalgia. Suffice to say our surveyors have been embedded in the Costain team from 2021 until 2024 assisting with surveys, control, MC models, volumes and setting out. We have also had another team working with our valued clients WBM as part of the sub-base construction for the last year. More recently our specialist utility survey team Seeka have been awarded the DDMS (formerly HADDMS) works for the CCTV and complete drainage network survey for the project. This totals 50km of pipe work as well as attenuation ponds, slot drains and all other drainage assets. A link to the project for those interested is here……A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross - National Highways

The footbridge at Ide

Plusha to Launceston 1989

1990/91 site caravans

Within three years of Summercourt opening the next section heading east was under construction as Tarmac Major Projects Division (MPD) with earthworks contractor John Jones undertook the Indian Queens/Fraddon By-Pass. This sections features “Hamburger Hill” the eastbound three lane section got the nick name following the first McDonalds arriving in Cornwall a couple of years after the road opened. Unable to drop any names on this one although we think Ian Kemp (no relation) was survey manager for Tarmac.

Goos Moor Castle-an-Dinas overbridge looking East

Goss Moor

The eastern end of the Goss Moor section is the Innis Downs interchange. Cormac were sub-contracted to McAlpine for the adaptation of the roadworks here and our now Engineering Director Chris Hewitt set out the works out for them.

 Innis Downs is where the Bodmin By-Pass starts. This is another section that pre-dates our early 1980s origins. Alfred McAlpine constructed the scheme in 1976/78 with their own muck shifting fleet of course. We think we can name drop some of the McAlpine team (many of whom we have worked with), Keith Titman, John Nichols, Packie McGettigan, Jerry O’Leary, Gary McGinn. Not much more we can add about this one, not sure who the consulting engineer was. If anyone has any memories, please feel free to share.

As we now continue east up onto Bodmin Moor there are a few schemes to get us up to the border with Devon.

Surveying the top of Two Bridges 1989

The eastern end of the project is where the Subway (sandwich shop) is located on the eastbound and here we join the Plusha to Launceston section. Another section constructed by Tarmac, this 4 mile stretch was designed by MRM Partnership and work commenced in February 1988 and was completed by the end of the following year. Our own Major Projects Survey Manager Dave Wallington entered the industry as a chainman working alongside Matt Clements and Peter Wright of Tarmac. Denward carried out the earthworks, Maidenford laid the drains, and the black was by Associated Asphalt.

The compound and offices were at Kennards House where Launceston Agricultural show is now held. Between Lewannick and Polyphant is the highways depot although the speed camera is probably better known. The A30 snakes up towards the Kennards House junction utilising the original carriageway on the east bound and is hence on a different alignment to the west. Kennards House interchange is where traffic for the Cornish north coast can turn off along the A395.

Kennards House was originally an at grade junction when constructed by Tarmac. Increased traffic and accidents saw it upgraded to its present format with the over bridge and slip roads added. This was undertaken in 1997/8? By Tilbury Douglas who employed Kemp for the setting out of the roadworks. The scheme was designed by CCC with John Speak as an assistant RE. Tilbury Douglas names to drop include John Preston, Davin Eversett (Sub Agent) Dave Harcombe? (Engineer), Paul Boddy?. John Bayfield was employed by the earthworks contractor and the drainage was undertaken by John Yates. The compound and offices were at what is now Trethorne Leisure Farm adjacent to where MMI plant sales are now located.

East of Kennards House is the Launceston By-Pass. Another project that predates us and which was built in 1976 we believe by Sir Alfred McAlpine (before they dropped the “Sir” from the company name). The scheme has the Penygillam interchange and Launceston east junction which links with the A388 for Callington and Saltash. We can name drop Les Bell from the Macs team. After the Callington junction the Launceston By Pass dives down and crosses the Tamar River at the Dunheved Bridge and into Devon.

Dunheved Bridge/embankment looking east 1976

After the bridge and before Lifton the 26 km section on the Okehampton to Launceston section from 1992 takes over. This is another Tarmac section and was primarily off line and across country. The much photographed and painted “coming home trees” (where survey station 12 is also located!) are above the west bound carriageway close to the Launceston end and have been noted as a land mark by the Cornish as they approach the Tamar river and their home county. The project was designed by Devon CC and again our own Dave Wallington was setting out throughout the duration in a pre-GPS era with a trusty Wild T2/D1000 and TC1600. Other names to drop from the Tarmac team include Peter Wright, Ted Kimpton, Adrian Izod, Chris Thomas and Tim Baxter for Devon CC.

Having by-passed the villages of Lifton, Lewdown and Bridestowe to name but a few, the A30 climbs up to Sourton Cross where the services are. The interchange here with the A386 allows traffic to turn south to Tavistock and Plymouth or into North Devon. At this point Dartmoor looms to the south of the A30 and the Okehampton by-pass starts. The market town was synonymous with tailbacks dating back to the 1960s and so after many years of planning and heated debate, given its proximity to Dartmoor, Mowlem Civil Engineering were appointed main contractors in the mid-1980s and they opened the scheme in 1988. To enable the scheme to blend with the topography of Dartmoor, Devon County Council’s design engineers split the carriageways with a stone faced reinforced concrete wall separating east and west bound traffic. Like the sections over Bodmin Moor the elevation and inclement weather of the moor made for a hard life for the construction team.

Just east of Okehampton the second section of concrete carriageway commences. This is the Okehampton to Whiddon Down section from the mid-1980s, again built by Mowlem Civil Engineering who employed their regional subsidiary E. Thomas as their structures sub-contractor. Although primarily a concrete surface there is a section of flexible paving in the middle of the scheme where it crosses a high embankment. We believe this was due to concern over settlement of the earthworks causing distress for the rigid carriageway although stand to be corrected, as the lack of flexibility in program and logistics of a concrete train, against the more widely employed bituminous alternative may have come into play. This isn’t a project we were involved with so cannot add much on the way of names. 

Whiddon Down today

Originally the Whiddon Down end connected via a roundabout with the existing A30. This was updated by Tilbury Douglas we think in the early 2000s. We can namedrop Adrian Izod and Ted Kimpton who were involved in the addition of the slip roads and over bridge. The interchange provides access to the services at Whiddon Down and the A382 to Mortonhampsted.

 The section from Lewdown onto the M5 is one of the oldest sections of A30 dual carriageway and one that we know least about. We did however work with Constable Hart on a major maintenance project here in 1992. The works were described as “crack and seat” which involved removing the upper bituminous surfacing to reveal the concrete base. A large weight like a guillotine was dropped onto the concrete at regular intervals to crack the concrete and sit it on the original formation. The carriageway was then made back up to level with bituminous material. We think we can name drop Russel Loughton and Chris Bourne from the Constable Hart team. 

Whilst we can’t add much to the construction history of this section we have still worked along the route. In 2015 the footbridge at Ide was the subject of a topographic survey for Highways England and in early 2016 we carried out as built surveys of slope stability anchors at Five Mile Hill near Tedburn St Mary.

 Our last involvement with the A30 before the M5 was at Alphington Junction which is the Exeter exit before the motorway. Our work here again with Constable Hart involved the resurfacing of the gyratory below the A30 and the link road into Exeter.

We hope our nostalgic trip along the A30 has stirred some memories. We stand to be corrected on some of the content, we have not researched the content to any degree, just done our best to remember what we can. Apologies to all the people we failed to name check, please feel free to add your own names and recollections. There are more photos of the A30 at Launceston at www.launcestonthen.co.uk

 Finally many thanks to Scott Kemp, Dave Wallington, John Nicholls and John Speak, for their assistance with this article.