Drivers using Cornwall’s A30 have been warned to expect more than six months of delays and diversions while a £9.8m safety scheme is carried out between Kennards House and Five Lanes.
Work began on 5 September and covers six locations: Plusha, Trevell, Two Bridges, Blackhill Quarry, Polyphant and a highways maintenance depot. National Highways says the scheme is intended to improve safety at junctions and redirect traffic to more suitable routes, alongside measures to reduce the impact on local roads.
Concerns over diversion traffic
The Plusha junction has been identified as Cornwall’s worst for accidents, with three fatalities recorded in 2024, according to the BBC.
However, Cornwall councillor Adam Paynter said the works could have been “planned better”. He said vehicles avoiding tailbacks were creating “real problems” for villages along the diversion route.
Desmond Emmett, from Tregadillett, said traffic had increased since the roadworks started.
“It’s causing gridlock at times in our village because people think they’re saving time coming through here, but they’re not saving any time at all,” he said.
Paynter, the independent councillor for Launceston North and North Petherwin, said he had warned National Highways that “they needed to do more” to limit the effect of closing one lane in each direction on the A30 and imposing a lengthy official diversion.
“If there was a smaller amount of road closure on the A30 that would make a big difference,” he said. “They are coning off the whole length to do different bits. It would be better if they closed only the sections they are working on rather than the whole stretch.”