Ambitious plans are being considered to improve the safety of an accident blackspot on the main A38 at Menheniot.
The Highways Agency has held an exhibition to consult with residents regarding plans for a bridge or underpass for traffic at the Menheniot junction - with an underpass the favoured option.
Government records show there were 12 accidents at the Lower Clicker junction between l993 and 1996, one double fatal and three serious.
Traffic flows are forecast to increase, and the agency believes to improve safety it will be necessary to separate the crossing over the A38 and divert the side roads under or over the trunk road, as at the eastern junction for Liskeard.
The current central reservation gaps would then be closed.
The agency has stressed that problems at the junction make access to Menheniot railway station difficult, and cause severe problems for people living on one side of the main road, and needing to cross to the other.
A report said the pattern of development along Lower Clicker Road means all options for improvements are sited to the west, and with the ground 'falling steeply away from the main road on the southern side, bridges over the road are not feasible'.
Earthworks
A preferred £2.5 million solution is for the location of a new 'underbridge' as close as possible to the existing junction, therefore making access links reasonably short.
The visual effect of the new road on properties is said to be 'medium' with the effect on the landscape 'slight'.
There would be no effects on sites of ecological or archaeological interest, or listed buildings. Other options would utilise existing links off the A38 on to the B3251, but they would lead to widening works which would affect adjacent properties.
A fourth option, similar to the preferred one, would take up more farmland, and be more expensive, at £2.8 million.
The agency says any adverse affects of the selected route would be reduced as much as possible by earth mounds and extensive planting of trees, preservation of as many hedgebanks as feasible, and through an archaeological watching brief which would last during earthworks excavations.
The exhibition was held at Menheniot station car park on Friday and Saturday.
A further scheme put forward by the agency is for improvements on the A30 at Plusha, near Lewannick, where there were nine accidents between l99l-96, two of them fatal and two serious.
The proposals are part of a Government new road safety strategy which sets an overall reduction target for 2010 for the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads.
PLANS for a proposed improvement to the A38 road junction at Menheniot were on view at a public consultation and exhibition at Menheniot station. Among those studying them were projects engineering officer from the Highways Agency Steve Carpenter, projects officer from the Agency Fiona Duncan, and Dave Kemplen of Menheniot who uses the dangerous junction twice a day.