As you may be aware, the project aims to transform the local landscape by removing our overhead line across the Dwyryd Estuary between Minffordd and Llandecwyn and replacing it with cables in a tunnel deep underground.

We would like to gather your views on our plans for managing traffic in the area during construction to ensure everyone’s safety and minimise impact on local residents.
 

Highways management

Construction will begin fully next year when we have established one of the project’s main construction compounds on land adjacent to the back road to Minffordd near Quarry Lane in Minffordd (shown on the enclosed plan).

Ensuring the health and safety of our team and members of the public is always our number one priority and so prior to establishing the construction compound, we will install traffic management measures.

As set out in the documents we shared before our planning application was submitted, construction traffic will access the site from the Minffordd roundabout on the A487. It will then travel along the High Street (A497), continuing past the top of Quarry Lane, before taking the next right turn down the back road to Minffordd to reach the construction compound. When leaving the construction compound, construction traffic will turn right out of the site, ensuring no construction traffic uses Quarry Lane.
 

Introducing safety measures

Given that there will be an increase in traffic along the back road, we are proposing to introduce a number of potential measures to improve safety by minimising interactions between construction traffic and other road users:

• We are proposing to restrict access along the back road to Minffordd, from the junction with the A497 to our construction compound. This would maintain access for local residents, any visitors or deliveries to their properties and for emergency vehicles but would restrict access for any other through traffic. 

• Access to Quarry Lane and the properties close by would be unaffected for traffic approaching from the east.

• The restricted road would be controlled in the narrow sections via traffic lights or manually controlled. Traffic marshals and a welfare cabin would be installed at or near the A497 junction.

• Three-way part time traffic signals would operate as required on the A497 junction to assist the movement of lorries into and out of the back road, and a section of the existing 40mph speed limit on the A497 would be reduced to 20mph.

• A 20mph advisory speed limit would be put in place between this junction and the construction compound and, subject to consultation with the relevant organisations including Penrhyndeudraeth Town Council, we propose temporarily closing the rear pedestrian access to the mynwent Minffordd (Minffordd cemetery) until our construction work is completed.  The cemetery itself would remain open.

• We are also liaising with Gwynedd Council and Sustrans about diverting cyclists using National Cycle Route (NCR) 8 which currently runs along the back road.  While we have looked at measures to keep this route open, our initial work shows that the safest option would be for cyclists to use the A497 and A487 between Britannia Terrace in Minffordd and Penrhyndeudraeth, re-joining NCR8 at these points.
   

Gathering your views: tell us what you think

We want to hear your views on our traffic management plans, which aim to minimise disruption to you while allowing us to transform this dramatic landscape as safely and efficiently as possible. You can find full details of our plans attached for your review.

We are also in discussion with local Gwynedd councillors, the highways team at Gwynedd Council and Penrhyndeudraeth Town Council about these proposals, which will be required for the construction work from approximately November 2022 (when we will start to set up the traffic management) to December 2026. After December 2026 there will be a shorter period of work required to remove the pylons, and as our plans for these works progress, we’ll keep you up to date.

To share your views, please contact the VIP project team directly by calling 0800 019 1898 or by emailing us at [email protected]. You can also use these details should you have any other questions or concerns about the project. Please submit any comments by 31 August 2022.