Width
Varies between 4 and 7 metres. Bishopstone Group Parish Council recorded that it is “not wide enough in many places for 2 HGVs to pass”.
Evidence
Every figure here comes from the council’s own documents.
None of this is our measurement. It is the bypass’s own survey programme, the council’s commissioned reviews, and its officers’ recorded decisions. And note the dates: until 21 September 2026 the newest figure the council had published was nearly a decade old. On that day it released the 2023 base flows and forecasts for these roads from its own traffic model, under environmental information request EIR2026/01918 — Evidence Note 3 sets them out.
What the council’s traffic model forecasts
On 21 September 2026, under environmental information request EIR2026/01918, the council released the 2023 base flows and the 2028, 2043 and 2061 forecasts from the model behind its Full Business Case — the first published figures for these roads. The scheme effect is the difference between the future with the Southern Link Road and the future without it, in the same year.
- +19% more traffic on the C1098 in the 2028 evening peak hour because of the scheme — 285 to 340 vehicles Model site 7, C1098 south of the A438
- +48% more between the peaks — about 400 extra vehicles across the six inter-peak hours Model site 7, 09:00–15:00 average hour
- +91% on the B4352 at the Clehonger end of Madley in the 2028 evening peak — 213 to 406 vehicles Model site 14, B4352 west of the B4349
- +35% more HGVs on the C1098 across the three modelled weekday hours, and roughly double on the B4352 east of Madley Model sites 7 and 14, 2028
The uplift is still there in 2043 and 2061: the forecasts contain no western bypass and no measure on the C1098. AECOM, who built the model, named the “Bridge Sollars to Madley Road” in 2024 as needing closer consideration before the model is relied on there. The full tables, the model’s limits and the questions they raise are in Evidence Note 3.
Traffic across the crossing
The bypass’s own survey programme placed ATC Site 1 — the first site — on the C1098 river crossing itself. The drawing labels the road only as “Un-named Road”.
| Measure | Direction 1 | Direction 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 24-hour flow | 1,138 | 1,152 |
| AM period, 07:00–10:00 | 208 | 443 |
| PM period, 16:00–19:00 | 384 | 241 |
| Two-way daily total | ~2,290 vehicles, approximately 1% HGV | |
The hourly profile is strongly tidal — a pronounced peak in one direction around 08:00, mirrored by the other around 17:00. That is the signature of commuter through-traffic using the crossing, not local movement.
This matters twice over. It shows the rat run is already running — commuter through-traffic at scale on a lane the council calls unsuitable, which is why mitigation is needed now, not after some forecast is exceeded. And it means the western crossing was inside the scheme’s own evidence base from 2016 — while being absent from the assessment that decided the scheme’s effects.
These counts are from November 2016. Ten years on, they are a floor, not a picture of today. The council’s current model has a 2023 base, built on a single two-week count at the bridge, and on 21 September 2026 it released that model’s figures for the road under EIR2026/01918: 206 vehicles an hour in the 2023 evening peak, forecast to reach 340 with the new road in 2028. The model works in hourly flows, not daily totals, so the two sets of figures sit side by side rather than one replacing the other. They are set out in Evidence Note 3.
Through HGVs: a repeatable baseline
In 2017 the council ran automatic number plate recognition surveys at both ends of the road, measuring vehicles that passed straight through with no intermediate stop — pure cut-through traffic.
| Survey date | Through movements, two-way | Of which over 7.5 t |
|---|---|---|
| 9 November 2017 | 64 | ~21 |
| 6 December 2017 | 39 | ~19 |
These counts prove through-HGVs are already using a road signed as unsuitable for them — the case for a weight limit does not wait on the new road. And because the method is defined and repeatable, it is a ready-made yardstick for the escalation thresholds: re-run the same survey after opening and the comparison is against the council’s own numbers, by the council’s own method.
What the road actually is
From the council-commissioned review of January 2018, covering the 4.3 km national-speed-limit section between Bridge Sollers and Madley:
Alignment
Characterised by a number of noticeably sharp bends which, with the narrow carriageway, act as traffic calming.
Provision
No footways except on the bridge section. No street lighting. Passing places “few and far between” — one formal, about 20 metres.
What it serves
Direct access to 21 dwellings, 25 fields, nine farming businesses, six private lanes and a church. Three bridleways and seven footpaths.
Signing
Signed “Unsuitable for HGVs” — in 2018 at the southern B4352 end only, with no such sign at the A438 end, the direction crossing traffic arrives from.
Speeds
85th-percentile speeds of 33.5–37.7 mph at two locations. The review concluded speeds are self-limited by geometry.
The collision record
Six personal-injury collisions were recorded in the five years from June 2012 to May 2017. Three were on the C1098 itself — loss of control at a bend into an oncoming vehicle, rear shunts, and a collision with an agricultural vehicle in which road layout was a stated contributory factor. Two more were at the A438 junction, caused by vehicles waiting to turn to or from the C1098.
Bishopstone Group Parish Council additionally reported a serious collision at the Bridge Sollers crossroads in January 2018, requiring two air ambulances. That post-dates the validated dataset above.
A fourteen-year record of concern
This is not a new objection. Madley Parish Council asked for a speed limit between Bridge Sollers and Madley in 2012. The C1098 entered the council’s prioritised traffic regulation order waiting list. The ward member for Stoney Street recorded that residents of Madley and Bridge Sollers
almost to a person want a speed limit and a weight limit on the road Ward member consultation response, 2018
— and that the apparent inability of the police to enforce limits was one of the main reasons for refusal. Madley Parish Council’s own response warned that
serious consideration should be given by the county planners to new planning applications which would increase the amount of commercial traffic along the Bridge Sollars Road Madley Parish Council, 2018
That is a formal warning, given in 2018, against exactly the kind of decision now being taken.
Scheme timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 18 July 2016 | Planning permission P151314/F granted, with 21 conditions |
| November 2016 | ATC Site 1 survey on the C1098 crossing |
| Nov–Dec 2017 | ANPR through-movement surveys at both ends of the C1098 |
| Jan–May 2018 | Speed and weight restriction reviews; both refused |
| 14 March 2019 | 2018 Side Roads Order confirmed by the Secretary of State |
| July 2019 | Nominal commencement of works keeps the permission alive |
| February 2024 | AECOM review finds the 2016 evidence base substantially out of date |
| December 2025 | Cabinet resolves to make a Compulsory Purchase Order |
| August 2026 | Full Business Case published, acknowledging induced traffic on the C1098 |
| 21 September 2026 | Council releases its model’s 2023 base and forecast flows for the C1098 and B4352 under EIR2026/01918 — the first published figures for the road |
| 24 September 2026 | Cabinet considers the Phase One Assessment Report, put back from 10 September |
| December 2026 | Construction programmed to start |
| around 2028 | Programmed opening |
Evidence notes
The group’s working notes set the record out in full, finding by finding, each referenced to its source document. They are written for objections, parish representations and correspondence with the council, and can be quoted freely.
Evidence Note 3 · 21 September 2026
What the council’s traffic model says
The 2023 base flows and 2028–2061 forecasts for the C1098 and B4352, released under EIR2026/01918; what AECOM wrote about the road; how far the model can be trusted here; and what is and is not in the forecasts. Findings F14–F19, with questions for Cabinet and a follow-up information request.
Evidence Note 2 · August 2026
Induced traffic, the assessment gap, and the case for committed mitigation
Why the C1098 was never assessed for the 2016 consent, why the method could not have found the harm, what both highway regulators recorded before consent, and the council’s own 2016–2018 record of the road. Findings F1–F13, with the ask and the forum strategy.
Sources
Every claim on this site is drawn from the following documents. All are council or consultant documents obtained from the planning record, from published Cabinet papers, or by freedom of information and environmental information request.
- Transport Assessment — South Wye Transport Package, Southern Link Road, Parsons Brinckerhoff, May 2015 — on the planning register under application P151314/F, with the full application file
- Transport Assessment Appendix B — scoping note, November 2014; Highways Agency letter, 1 December 2014; JMP Technical Note, March 2015 — same planning file
- Briefing Note — transport impacts and benefits arising from the Southern Link Road, Parsons Brinckerhoff, 30 September 2015
- Environmental Statement — Appendix 5.1 (traffic data for air quality) and Appendix 11.3 — same planning file
- AECOM review — Hereford Southern Link Road planning application and design review, February 2024
- Report of Highway Surveys — Hereford Transport Model, WSP / Parsons Brinckerhoff, September 2017 — released under FOI
- Speed limit review — ADL Briefing Note ref 3409, January 2018; AD Report, February 2018; Record of Officer Decision, 9 March 2018 — released under FOI
- Weight restriction review — ADL Briefing Note ref 3409, January 2018; AD Report, April 2018; Record of Officer Decision, 2 May 2018 — released under FOI
- Statement of Reasons — draft, Hereford Bypass Phase 1 CPO, with the Cabinet decision of 18 December 2025 and its papers
- Full Business Case — Herefordshire Council, August 2026 — published document (PDF); council announcement
- Traffic model outputs — forecast link flows by vehicle class, location summary, count site list and the HSTM Phase 1 uncertainty logs of 19 August 2026 — released 21 September 2026 under EIR2026/01918
- AECOM model reports — Herefordshire Strategic Transport Model, Highway Local Model Validation Report v2.0 and Data Collection Report v2.0, August 2024 — supplied with the EIR2026/01918 response
Documents released under freedom of information or environmental information request have no public web link — the group holds copies for anyone who wants to see them.