The A303 at 1000mph - A Competition!

A free-flowing, fast, A303 "Route to the Sun" is the stuff of dreams for most of us who live alongside the slower sections.  I happened across a smashing video that shows the A303 end-to-end in just over 5 minutes.  It was shot on a day and at a time when the traffic was relatively light, but even then, there is the standing traffic on the dualled section of the A303 past Amesbury - just before the standing stones.   You see similar problems at the start of each of the single carriageway sections as the road travels west.  It would have been a much shorter film if we had the SH2!

 

 On a really serious note though, the time spent stuck in traffic from Solstice Park in Amesbury to the Longbarrow Roundabout (before the work was completed and the traffic situation worsened!)  took 1minute and 30 seconds of video time, which equals around 25% of the total time for the whole 90 mile journey.  Just to cover 4.5 miles of the A303 - 5% of the total distance in 25% of the time for the whole journey!

Think of the frayed tempers, the wasted fuel, the pollution and the added costs of goods that could be avoided by implementing SH2 and dualling the A303, bypassing Winterbourne Stoke and the other afflicted villages along its length.  This was only a moderately busy day, not a very busy one.  Imagine the waste that occurs day after day at the peak times of year!


Then take a look at a section of the BBC film of A303 Highway to the Sun as it passes through our village of Winterbourne Stoke. This shows just how difficult simply getting out on to the A303 can be for our local farmer, Rob Turner - and that is for someone driving a large 4 x 4, or even a farm vehicle which is very hard to ignore (and sadly, some folks do try).  Imagine how much harder it is for someone in a small car,  a motorcyclist, or, god forbid, a cyclist to get out onto the A303 safely.

COMPETITION

We enjoyed the A303 at 1000mph so much, we thought we'd turn it into a competition - and we have a bottle of bubbly on offer to the winner.   The rules are very simple.  All you have to do is repeat the the journey along the whole 90 mile length of the A303 and record it on video.  Submit the video to YouTube and send us the link using the Contact Form at the foot of the page.

1.  The winning video will have the highest percentage of the overall journey time stuck in traffic between the Countess Roundabout at Amesbury and the junction with the A36 at Wylye.

2.  Journeys can be recorded West to East or East to West.

3.  We do not condone breaking any traffic laws in pursuit of the prize.

4.  Our decision as to the winner is final!

5.  The winner will be announced on 1st January 2014 - or as soon afterwards as we can manage!

If you know your attempt at glory has failed but happen to record something of particular interest to our campaign, caused by the poor quality of the A303, then let us see it anyway, their may be additional spot prizes for interesting stuff - if we can find a few sponsors amongst the business community along the A303 corridor.

If you want to get involved by sponsoring a competition, then we would love to hear from you also!

UPDATE To The Competition - By Popular Demand.

A second bottle of bubbly is on offer for the slowest video-recorded journey between the Countess Roundabout in Amesbury and the Wylye interchange with the A36 - no need to record a trip along the entire A303.

Rules 2, 3, 4 and 5 above also apply.

You might be very lucky and win both bottles!