12 Selection of Preferred Route

Preferred Options Report Scheme Assessment Report 2

12.1 Introduction This chapter provides a summary of the key factors which have influenced the recommended Preferred Route in each section. These factors were debated and challenged at a Preferred Options Workshop held with discipline leaders, the Project Management team and Roads Service representatives between 5th and 7th May 2009.

At the end of the Workshop an Emerging Preferred Route was identified for the majority of the scheme though a number of discrete areas required further consideration before the Preferred Route could be put forward as a recommendation. The areas in each Section requiring further investigation are described in 12.3, 12.6 and 12.9 below.

The Economic Assessment of the Preferred Route is presented in 12.11 following the individual Section summaries.

12.2 Section 1 Assessment Summary Throughout the length of each Route there are a number of discrete engineering, environmental and economic issues. It is these issues that differentiate the Routes in the assessment process and they are described below.

From a strategic prespective it was decided that the northern termination of the dual carriageway should provide greatest flexibility for the A5/A6 link which is the subject of an on-going feasibility study. To this end it is therefore proposed to provide a roundabout to the south of New Buildings.

Further to the findings of traffic and economic assessment in Chapter 11 it has been demonstrated that a bypass of New Buildings provides additional benefits to the scheme. Whilst the Black and Pink Route do not offer a bypass of New Buildings the Emerging Preferred Route will include for a single carriageway bypass to the west of the community. The Green and Purple Route are therefore preferred over this length.

At Magheramason the Green Route runs adjacent and through the land within which the new lottery funded cricket ground sits. This area has a number of planning approvals which the route affects resulting in the loss of residential and community facilities. The Purple, Pink and Black Routes all run to the west of Magheramason, beyond the development limits of the village and to the east of the waste water treatment works. The Purple, Pink and Black Routes are preferred over this length.

The Green Route enters a significant cutting at Bready, which is approximately 900m in length and varies in depth to a maximum of approximately 43m. This cutting is in an area of rock which could be re-used throughout the scheme but has significant buildability issues to remove the material from the cutting and transport it via the existing road network. The Black and Pink Routes also have a large rock cutting at Bready which varies in depth up to a maximum depth of approximately 26m albeit

796036/0000/R/011 Version 0.1 459 ©Mouchel 2009 Preferred Options Report Scheme Assessment Report 2 this is closer to the existing road network and therefore more accessible. The Purple Route runs to the west of Bready close to areas of the Grangefoyle that support nationally important assemblages of breeding birds.

The Emerging Preferred Route will ultimately head either east or west of Strabane. Due to the topography of the Sperrins foothills there are limited opportunities to switch from the lower Foyle valley to the higher ground and even fewer to switch from the higher ground to the Foyle valley. This restriction means that the decision to head east or west of Strabane will play a significant part in determining long lengths of the Preferred Route. The Green route remains on the higher ground throughout its length and ultimately passes to the east of Strabane. The Purple route (as described below) switches to the higher ground from the Foyle valley along a line parallel to Strabane Glen before passing to the east of Strabane. The Black and Pink Routes remain in the lower Foyle valley and ultimately deviate to the west of Strabane.

South of the Burndennet River the Purple, Pink and Black Routes all pass in close proximity to the McKeans Moss ASSI. This increases the potential for soft ground and associated buildability issues. Whilst the routes remain outwith the designated area it is anticipated that detailed design will be able to improve this further, thus reducing the possibility of encountering soft ground and affecting McKeans Moss ASSI. The Green Route on the contrary is some 1km to the east in the foothills of the Sperrins. This results in considerable earthworks causing significant landscape and visual impacts in the river valley over a long length and buildability issues relating to accessing the site.

The Purple, Pink and Black Routes cross the Glenmornan River west of Ballymagorry before swinging eastwards towards the fringe of the floodplain. The Pink and Black Routes remain west of the existing A5 whilst the Purple Route climbs into the Sperrins, adjacent to Strabane Glen, requiring Departures from Standard due to the gradients required to avoid significant cuttings and impacts on the Glen. The Purple Route will also potentially affect the groundwater regime of Strabane Glen, whilst both Purple and Green Routes have the potential to significantly impact on the ecology and setting of the ASSI designated Glen.

North of Strabane the Pink and Black Routes cross the Strabane Canal Schediled Monument which would require protection and mitigation.

As the Purple and Green Routes pass to the east of Strabane they enter a cutting up to 24m deep before crossing over Pattens Glen. This presents a significant buildability issue requiring a structure over the Glen and the Cavanalee River which is a spawning ground for salmon and is part of the River Foyle SAC designation. This natural feature will act as a breakpoint in the scheme, significantly restricting construction operations. Both the Purple and Green route geometric standards are poor over this length due to need to minimise the impact on the natural features described. It is probable that a Departure from Standard will be required. The scale of the earthworks will be visually intrusive, creating a significant notch in the landscape, which is particularly visible from the south.

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All routes require significant engineering works to bypass Strabane. To the west of Strabane the Pink and Black Routes offer greater potential for connectivity with the existing A38 Lifford Road. The central location of this potential junction increases the traffic benefits for both local and strategic traffic. South of the River Mourne the Pink Route utilises a length of the existing A5 via the throughpass. This will restrict standards and therefore speed limits to 50mph thus compromising the scheme objectives and increasing community severance for the Urney Road community. In addition, disruption during construction will be significant, causing delay to both local and strategic users. The Black Route deviates to the west thus reducing severance but also requiring the acquisition of property (listed status) adjacent to the River Finn to facilitate the route.

Both the Pink and Black Routes will require some construction on the River Finn floodplain. Appropriate mitigation measures would need to be identified on both routes to minimise flood risk and environmental impacts.

To the south-west of Strabane the Purple, Pink and Black Routes all negatively impact on the development limits of Strabane. Whilst environmentally more preferable than the Green Route, these three routes would potentially restrict further development to the south-west of Strabane. A junction provided on the Pink and Purple Routes to the south-west provides greater connectivity to the town but would requires further development land to do so.

All routes options in Section 1 are designed to provide future connectivity to the Republic of Ireland at Strabane. The Black Route provides for a potential junction adjacent to the River Finn offering the greatest operational benefits to the scheme. The other routes have varying additional route lengths from 300m (Pink Route) to 3.5km (Green and Purple Route), which would provide the same linkage to the ROI. These routes do not offer the same level of connectivity as the Black Route over this length and result in increased costs and maintenance liability.

In terms of journey time savings the Green Route offers the greatest benefits for strategic traffic due to being the shortest and separating the strategic and local traffic at Strabane. The Pink and Black Routes offer better connectivity to Strabane and Lifford.

In terms of estimated cost the Pink and Black Routes are the least costly, with the Green and Purple Routes being the most costly.

Within Section 1 the highest BCR is achieved by the Pink and Black Routes followed by the Green and lastly Purple.

12.3 Section 1 Emerging Preferred Route Following due consideration of the assessments undertaken and reported in the earlier chapters, it is recommended that the following route is selected as the Emerging Preferred Route for Section 1.

The Purple Route is preferred from the commencement of the scheme north-west of New Buildings remaining to the west of the community and running parallel to the

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River Foyle and existing A5. The Emerging Preferred Route continues to the west of Magheramason on the Purple Route before adopting the Black Route at approximately Chainage 8000.

Following the Preferred Route Workshop due consideration was given to options in and around Strabane. These further studies, as highlighted above, resulted in the Black Route being preferred.

12.4 Refinements to the Emerging Preferred Route in Section 1 Applying the highway design assumptions set out in Chapter 3, the Emerging Preferred Route would have resulted in the direct loss of a number properties.

Following a more detailed review of the alignment in the vicinity of the properties at risk this number was reduced. It is now expected that only 2 no. residential properties are likely to be lost.

At McKeans Moss it was recognised that the impact on the ASSI and potentially soft ground could be mitigated in part by moving the route to the east. The revised alignment now skirts the edge of the ASSI whilst avoiding property to the east. It is anticipated that detailed design will further reduce these impacts.

In order to avoid property acquisition immediately south of the Glenmornan River and in order to facilitate a better crossing of the River it was determined that the Purple Route between chainages 15,700 and 18,600 offered a more preferable solution.

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Figure 12-1 Purple Route South of Glenmornan River To the south west of Strabane the Pink, Black and Purple Routes all pass close to the edge of the developed area. Indeed they also pass within the towns development limits thus reducing future planning opportunities. It was therefore determined that a route to the west of the disused quarry beyond the development limits was more preferable. This deviation lies to the east of the Green Route.

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Figure 12-2 Routes Southwest of Strabane The Preferred Route in Section 1 is summarised below:

• Single carriageway bypass to the west of New Buildings;

• The dual carriageway starts south of New Buildings;

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• Passes west of Magheramason;

• Passes east of Bready;

• Passes between Drumgauty and Magherareagh;

• Passes west of Cloghcor and Ballymagorry;

• Skirts the western edge of Strabane town, before heading south-east towards Glebe and Sion Mills.

There are proposed junctions at the following locations:

• J1.1 - Towards the centre of the single carriageway New Buildings Bypass;

• J1.2 - South end of the single carriageway New Buildings Bypass;

• J1.3 - North of Strabane on the existing A5;

• J1.4 - West of Strabane on the A38 (Lifford Road)/existing A5;

• J1.5 - West of Strabane on B85 (Urney Road). This junction will also accommodate the future Lifford (N14/N15) Link;

• J1.6 - North-west of Sion Mills on the existing A5.

A plan of the Section 1 Preferred Route is contained on drawing numbers 796036- 0800-D-00401 to 796036-0800-D-00408 in Volume 2.

12.5 Section 2 Assessment Summary Heading south from Strabane, all Routes pass between Sion Mills and Glebe. From Sion Mills to Newtownstewart the Black, Yellow and Red Routes are higher in the landscape and avoid current quarry operations south of Victoria Bridge. By contrast the Purple Route is lower in the landscape but has greater impact on the quarry sites and utility apparatus where the route runs close to the existing A5.

South of the River Derg, where the Red Route deviates towards the north of Newtownstewart, the Black and Yellow Routes continue on higher ground affecting the landscape character and views from the Sperrins AONB.

At Newtownstewart (see Figure 12.3) the Red and Purple Routes utilise the existing bypass as the northbound carriageway of the proposed road. This would require Departures from Standard. The proposed southbound carriageway would require two significant single span crossings of the River Strule, in an area where weak and unsuitable ground exists. Additionally there would be an overall loss of floodplain storage associated with the new carriageway, increasing flood risk which would require extensive mitigation.

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The Red and Purple Route at Newtownstewart would also impact on the Strule Valley setting and the graveyard at Pubble Friary. Prehaps most significantly there is potential for impact on the River Strule and Foyle Tributaries SAC.

West of Newtownstewart the Yellow and Black Routes remain west of Harry Avery’s Castle, and impacts on the setting of this heritage site. Further south these Routes remain high in the landscape impacting on the landscape character and views from the Sperrins AONB.

South of Newtownstewart the Red and Purple Routes run parallel to the existing A5 impacting upon Grange Wood ASSI. To minimise the direct loss of the wood, significant lengths of retaining structures would be required. Also, the proximity of these Routes to the Strule Riverwould increase contamination risk into the river during construction, requiring appropriate management and mitigation.

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Figure 12-3: Routes and Key Constraints at Newtownstewart The Yellow Route option between Newtownstewart and Mountjoy remains on the middle slopes of Bessy Bell and has significant landscape impact. Also, due to the topography in this area, depths of cuttings and heights of embankments are significant. This has been minimised by the introduction of a Departure from Standard to increase the gradient on the vertical alignment. This higher route may

796036/0000/R/011 Version 0.1 467 ©Mouchel 2009 Preferred Options Report Scheme Assessment Report 2 also have increased operation and maintenance risk, particularly in poor weather conditions.

South of Bessy Bell all eastern routes have a similar impact on landscape character and affect areas of woodland in Fairy Valley, north of Omagh. The Black, Red and Purple Routes have higher potential impact to the dispersed settlement of Mountjoy, compared to the Yellow Route. Additionally these eastern routes cross the flood plain at Fairy Water with the potential for large flooding impact which would require significant mitigation.

The Yellow Route crosses Fairy Water floodplain at a narrower point, further west, with a more moderate flooding impact. Further south this route has potential to impact on the dispersed settlement of Gillygooly. West of Omagh the Yellow Route is more elevated in the drumlin landscape compared to the Black, Red and Purple Routes further east.

All routes provide the same level of traffic relief to the existing A5 throughout the northern end of Section 2. However, it is the Black, Red and Purple Routes that offer the better connectivity to Omagh via the existing A5 and A32 (Clanabogan Road).

In terms of estimated cost the Black, Purple and Yellow Routes are similar, with the Red Route option being the slightly dearer.

The Yellow and Black Routes in Section 2 give the greatest BCR as part of full scheme routes when combined with either the Pink or Black Route in Section 1. It can be seen that the Red Route is generally the worst of the 4 routes considered in Section 2 irrelevant of connectivity with routes in Section 1.

12.6 Section 2 Emerging Preferred Route Following due consideration of the assessments undertaken and reported in the earlier chapters, it was recommended that the Black Route option should be taken forward as the Emerging Preferred Route for Section 2 subject to the following issues being examined in more detail:

1) Minimise severance to the Mountjoy community (as summarised above);

2) Minimise the number of properties lost to the scheme.

This resulted in a number of alternatives being considered as described in Section 12.7 below.

12.7 Refinements to the Emerging Preferred Route in Section 2 Alternatives at Mountjoy In addition to increased potential impact on the dispersed settlement at Mountjoy, two properties at Gortnagarn Road and Connaghty Road would need to be acquired for the Black Route option. Alternatives were developed further west and east of the Black Route option, as shown on Figure 12.2, to minimise this impact. Although the eastern alternative avoids property, severance of the community still exists. Also 796036/0000/R/011 Version 0.1 468 ©Mouchel 2009 Preferred Options Report Scheme Assessment Report 2 maintaining existing east-west links would require a significant embankment to carry the proposed road over Gortnagarn Road.

The western alternative passes to the west of Mountjoy, and roughly follows the line of the disused railway to the east of Tully Bog SAC, before crossing Fairy Water west of Poe Bridge. This alternative reduces the severance impacts, when compared to the more eastern options, and avoids dwellings in the area. Additionally, the landscape within which the western alternative sits is better able to accommodate change with less potential for impact on woodland and hedgerows and associated habitats. The western alternative is, however, closer to Tully Bog SAC but remains down-wind of the prevailing direction thus reducing the potential air quality impacts. It is considered that the potential for impacts on the SAC during construction could be adequately controlled - such controls being set out in a future Environmental Statement.

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Figure 12-4: Black Route Option and Alternatives at Mountjoy

Other refinements Applying the highway design assumptions set out in Chapter 3, the Emerging Preferred Route would have resulted in the direct loss of a number properties.

Following a more detailed review of the alignment in the vicinity of the properties at risk this number was reduced. It is now expected that no residential properties are likely to be lost.

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It is recommended that the Black Route option, with the western alternative at Mountjoy should be taken forward as the Preferred Route for Section 2.

The Preferred Route in Section 2 is summarised below:

• Starts between Sion Mills and Glebe;

• Passes to the west of Seein;

• Passes to the west of both Newtownstewart and Harry Avery’s Castle;

• Traverses the lower slopes of Bessy Bell before passing to the west of Mountjoy, roughly following the path of the disused railway line;

• Follows a line close to the western outskirts of Omagh

There are proposed junctions at the following locations:

• J2.1 - Adjacent to Victoria Bridge on the B72 (Fyfin Road);

• J2.2 - West of Newtownstewart on the B84 (Baronscourt Road);

• J2.3 - North-west of Omagh with the existing A5;

• J2.4 - South-west of Omagh on the A32 (Clanabogan Road);

For the location of the junction south of Omagh, see section 5.3 below.

A plan of the Section 2 Preferred Route is contained on drawing numbers 796036- 0800-D-00409 to 796036-0800-D-00418 in Volume 3.

12.8 Section 3 Assessment Summary The Routes all commence south-west of Omagh and terminate south of Aughnacloy at the A5 north of Moy Bridge. They provide similar levels of traffic relief to the existing A5 throughout the section but the Pink and Red Routes offer better connectivity to Omagh via a junction with the existing A5. The Green and Purple Routes would require an upgrade of approximately 2km of existing B122 Tattyreagh Road across an area of peat to provide a similar connection with the existing A5 near Omagh. For this reason the Pink and Red Routes are preferred at this location.

Continuing south towards Moylagh the character of the drumlin landscape is broadly similar for all Routes and properties are scattered evenly with a marginal increase along the existing A5 corridor; hence there is little environmental differential between the routes in terms of visual receptors between Omagh and Gortaclare.

The Red and Green Routes provide better connectivity to Fintona, which is designated as a town in the Omagh Area Plan 1987 – 2002, via the B46 as well as picking up northbound traffic from the south west of the county (e.g. Augher and Clogher) and so these are the Preferred Routes over this length.

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The Preferred Corridor splits at Garvaghy Big Hill with the Green and Red Routes passing to the west of the split and the Pink and Purple Routes to the east. The Pink and Purple Routes pass through an area of Peat near Garvaghy, which would require piled foundations over this length. The Pink and Purple Routes would also be higher in the landscape and are restricted in terms of space due to existing development and infrastructure along the existing A5. A number of relaxations have had to be introduced to avoid properties on the Pink and Purple Routes.

The Pink and Purple Routes would require significantly more traffic management during construction than the other routes due to their location close to the existing A5. This is likely to result in significant disruption to those travelling on the A5 especially where the routes cross or run along side the existing road resulting in the need for roadworks restrictions and traffic signals.

Continuing south past the split in the Preferred Corridor the four routes come together and have similar potential junction locations at the A4 west of Ballygawley.

The routes then separate again with the Green Route going west and the other three routes staying to the east near the existing A5. The Red and Purple Routes make use of the existing landtake of the A4/A5 Improvement scheme for approximately 900m in the vicinity of Tullyvar. It would not be possible to widen the existing alignment due to the proposed road levels at this location and to utilise the 900m of land would require a lowering of the existing levels by approximately 2 metres and a Departure from Standard would be required. There would also be an issue with buildability for the Red and Purple Routes at this location due to the online construction and traffic management that would be required to keep traffic running on the existing A5 during construction. The Green and Pink Routes are remote from the existing A5 at this location and so these are the Preferred Routes north of Aughnacloy.

Continuing south the Preferred Corridor splits again to go either side of Aughnacloy. The Purple, Red and Pink Routes pass to the east of Aughnacloy and the Green Route to the west of the town all merging with the A5 north of Moy Bridge. The Green Route is least preferred, in terms of environmental impact, due to the significant impact on The Thistle west of Aughnacloy. The Green Route also provides poor connectivity with the A28 compared to the other options east of Aughnacloy as traffic travelling along the A28 to and from the east would be required to pass through Aughnacloy to join the route. The Red Route impacts on a golf course near Lissenderry and has more impact on properties than the other routes and so the Purple and Pink Routes are preferred over this length.

The environmental assessment has concluded that differences in the extent and significance of environmental constraints between the 4 Routes are limited to interests relating to Cultural Heritage, Landscape and Ecology.

The Green and Red Routes (subject to detailed design) both result in a significant impact on Errigal Keerogue ecclesiastical site. The Green Route also results in a significant adverse impact on The Thistle Registered Park, Garden and Demesne.

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The total number of potential visual receptors is similar for the Green, Pink and Purple Routes, whilst the Red Route would have an impact on a markedly lower number of receptors.

The Green and Red Routes have the potential to cause significant impacts to bats (European protected species) with 1 moderate to large adverse impact on the Green Route and 2 moderate to large adverse impacts predicted on the Red Route.

The data shows that for all other environmental disciplines, impacts would be broadly similar in scale and magnitude of impact for all four Routes.

In terms of estimated cost the Pink and Purple Routes are similar. The Red Route is the longest and most costly route option. The Green Route is the shortest and cheapest route option.

Within Section 3 the highest BCR’s are achieved via the Green and Purple Routes (as part of full scheme routes), however the Green and Purple Routes can only connect to the Yellow Route in Section 2. The Red and Prink Routes do not deliver as high BCR values but the relative difference is only a marginal one in terms of the overall BCR.

12.9 Section 3 Emerging Preferred Route The Emerging Preferred Route for Section 3 initially follows the alignment of the Red Route continuing from Section 2 south-east of Omagh to a junction on the existing A5.

The route then crosses to the western side of the Preferred Corridor where a junction is provided on the B46 for Fintona and Beragh traffic.

The route continues southwards passing to the east of Newtownsaville and on to the A4 where a junction is provided to link the A4 and the proposed A5 west of Ballygawley.

The route then transfers from the Red Route to the Pink Route and passes to the west of the Tullyvar section of the A4 Improvement scheme and east of Aughnacloy. A junction is provided with the A28 before the route turns southwards tying in with the A5 north of Moy Bridge.

12.10 Refinements to the Emerging Preferred Route in Section 3 Applying the highway design assumptions set out in Chapter 3, the Emerging Preferred Route would have resulted in the direct loss of a number of properties.

Following a more detailed review of the alignment in the vicinity of the properties at risk this number was reduced. It is now expected that only 2 no. residential properties are likely to be lost.

A segment of the Red Route immediately north of the A4 has been replaced with a length of the Green Route. The reason for this adoption is that the Green Route segment is shorter than the equivalent Red Route segment and also avoids an area

796036/0000/R/011 Version 0.1 473 ©Mouchel 2009 Preferred Options Report Scheme Assessment Report 2 of floodplain north of the A4. The alignment of the Green Route segment also lends itself better to a roundabout junction at the A4 should this be the required junction type determined during the detailed design phase.

Figure 12-5: Refinement of Red Route by addition of a Segment of the Green Route

During a review of the proposed side road crossings it was decided that the proposed Glenhoy Road should pass under the Emerging Preferred Route as it

796036/0000/R/011 Version 0.1 474 ©Mouchel 2009 Preferred Options Report Scheme Assessment Report 2 would provide a better earthwork balance and reduce the impact on farm properties immediately south of Glenhoy Road.

Figure 12-6: Refinement at Glenhoy Road

It was agreed during a joint meeting between Roads Service and the NRA that the preferred solution for terminating the A5 route would be at a roundabout junction with the A28 to the south of Aughnacloy. It was also decided to provide a single carriageway link from the A28 roundabout to the A5 north of Moy Bridge including a

796036/0000/R/011 Version 0.1 475 ©Mouchel 2009 Preferred Options Report Scheme Assessment Report 2 priority junction to provide a link for traffic wishing to travel to/from Aughnacloy. This solution would provide more flexibility for the potential tie in between the N2 and the A5 scheme in the future. The provision of the single carriageway also allowed a lower standard of carriageway to be adopted over this length allowing the route to avoid properties that would otherwise have been impacted on if the segment was to remain as a dual carriageway.

Figure 12-7: Refinement around Aughnacloy

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The Preferred Route in Section 3 is summarised below:

• Starts south-east of Omagh at Doogary;

• Passes west of Moylagh;

• Passes east of Newtownsaville;

• Passes west of Garvaghy Big Hill;

• Passes west of Ballygawley;

• Passes west of Tullyvar;

• Passes north of Aughnacloy before bypassing the town to the east;

• Ties in to the existing A5 north of the border at Moy Bridge with a single carriageway link between the A28 and the existing A5;

There are proposed junctions at the following locations:

• J3.1 - South of Omagh on the existing A5;

• J3.2 - South-west of Moylagh on the B46 (Moylagh Road);

• J3.3 - South-west of Ballygawley on the A4 (Annaghilla Road);

• J3.4 - South east of Aughnacloy on A28 (Caledon Road)

A plan of the Section 3 Preferred Route is contained on drawing numbers 796036- 0800-D-00419 to 796036-0800-D-00429 in Volume 4.

12.11 Economic Appraisal of Preferred Route The Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) for the Scheme varies little between the 32 Route combinations presented in Table 11.2 in Chapter 11.

The BCR alone has not been used to derive the Preferred Route. Whilst it remains a factor the assessments presented above demonstrate the need for a holistic approach to selection of the Preferred Route. For example the highest BCR for the Pink (Section 1), Yellow (Section 2) and Green (Section 3) can be shown to be inferior in engineering and environmental terms when compared to the Preferred Route.

Table 12.1 presents the results of the economic assessment for the Preferred Route. The Preferred Route combines elements from a number of the Routes for assessment. The BCR for the Preferred Route cannot therefore be directly compared to Table 11.2 in Chapter 11.

Table 12-1 Economic Assessment Summary Table for the Preferred Route

Aspect Preferred Route

Consumer User Benefits 287.9

Business Benefits 581.1

Accident Benefits 125.4

WEB 149.2

Present Value of Benefits (PVB) 1143.6

Investment Cost 795.2

Indirect Tax -40.9

Present Value of Cost (PVC) 754.2

Carbon Benefits -6.0

Net Present Value (NPV) = PVB-PVC 389.4

Benefit to Cost Ratio (BCR) = PVB / PVC 1.5**

** It should be noted that the BCRs quoted in this report to date have been based on cost presented in Table 10.1 in Chapter 10. These are suitable for comparing schemes at this stage but may alter (and potentially decrease) as a result of further detailed analysis. It is also expected as a result of the refined cost estimates that the BCR for the Preferred Route will increase.

12.12 High Level Value Engineering Exercises

As discussed previously, a series of high level value engineering exercises were carried out on the Emerging Preferred Route taking into account the design criteria as stated in 3.4.1 which allows for Departures and Relaxations from Standard and therefore reduces the associated construction and land costs.

These comprised:-

• Specific data from the Preliminary Ground Investigation regarding suitability of material, CBR etc was incorporated in to the design;

• Preliminary 1 dimensional and 2 dimensional flood model data was utilised to provide increased certainty in freeboard levels;

• Side road diversions and potential accommodation measures were reviewed;

• Land use assessment was reviewed and updated;

• A review of the current Risk Register was carried out;

• Optimism bias was reviewed.

The cost estimate for the Preferred Route, based on this work is £844,303,296. The PVC value of £658 million in table 12.2 is based on the cost above discounted to 2002 prices as described in paragraph 11.14.3.

Based on this revised cost estimate, the economic assessment was reviewed and the results are shown in Table 12-2 below.

Table 12-2 Economic Assessment Summary Table for Preferred Route Following High Level VE Exercises

Aspect Preferred Route

Consumer User Benefits 287.9

Business Benefits 581.1

Accident Benefits 125.4

WEB 149.2

Present Value of Benefits (PVB) 1143.6

Investment Cost 795.2

Indirect Tax -40.9

Present Value of Cost (PVC) 658.0

Carbon Benefits -6.0

Net Present Value (NPV) = PVB-PVC 485.6

Benefit to Cost Ratio (BCR) = PVB / PVC 1.74