A6 RUSHDEN – HIGHAM FERRERS BYPASS ... - Highways Agency

section. These values are shown in Table 4.6. There has been a substantial fall, aspredicted, although the actual figures are not identical to those in the AST.4.23 The northern and southern parts of the bypass have been treated separately in theevaluation, because they are built to different standards. The northern section isdual carriageway, and has the low stress value of 21% (similar to the predictedvalue). The southern section is single carriageway, and has the higher value of48%. However, this is still below the 75% level at which it would have an effect onReliability.Regeneration4.24 The AST stated that the scheme does not serve a regeneration priority area, andgave no indication that promoting regeneration was a scheme objective.4.25 Despite not being in a designated regeneration priority area, considerabledevelopment has taken place in Rushden and Highham Ferrers concurrently withthe provision of the A6 bypass and A5001 John Clark Way. This has mainly beennew housing. It may be argued that with the increase in the capacity of thetransport system, the populations of these towns have been enabled to grow.4.26 The fact that only about half the traffic has transferred from the old A6 to the newbypass, suggests that businesses in the town centres would not suffer from loss ofpassing trade. Indeed the opening of an ASDA store in Rushden has attracted newtraffic .Public Perceptions on Economy4.27 The questionnaire did not aim to discover the public’s views on most economicmatters. However one question partly relating to Regeneration was: ‘Do you thinkthe new development completed since the bypass opened has been good for thearea?’4.28 Responses were as follows: Agree 48% Disagree 29% Neither/ Don’t know 23%4.29 Thus, of those with a definite opinion, more people took a positive view of postbypassdevelopment than otherwise. Nevertheless, many of the additionalcomments revealed contradictory views. The following is a selection.“I live in a new house just off John Clark Way and this development is adding avery desirable residential area to Rushden.”“My family now live in the new housing development. It has a good school and thedoctors surgery has improved due to the increase of population.”“It has brought some work and living accommodation to the area. Very good.”44