AUTUMN often evokes a quiet, contemplative mood — the idea of change, endings, and transition - but this year it will surely give rise to anger and frustration as the closure of the A382 gets underway in September.

At present, there are four-way traffic lights at Whitehill Cross as preparation works gets underway for a new roundabout.

It comes ahead of the A382 Bovey Road closing next month, which is to allow the final phase of improvements to take place.

There will be two phases of works, both of which will take place under road closures.

The first closure will cover the Whitehills Junction area, affecting Exeter Road and the A382 and will be in place from September for about 12 months; the second closure will follow on from that and cover the Forches Cross to Ice House Copse section of the route and last for a further 12 months.

The businesses in the area and Stover School will be open and accessible for the duration of the works, Devon County Council (DCC) have confirmed.

DCC was awarded £38million to deliver the final phase of improvement to the A382, but the scheme was estimated at around £60 million when originally drawn up in 2019/20 and has, therefore, had to be scaled back.

The project will still include an upgraded and realigned road between Forches Cross and Stover, a new roundabout north of Forches Cross and the Jetty Marsh Link Road and Whitehills roundabout, including walking and cycling links.

However, the section of widening from Drumbridges to Stover and improvements at Exeter Road have been removed from the project, though improvements in these areas remain ‘priorities for delivery at a later date as funding opportunities arise’, DCC says.

This drew some criticism as trees in the plantation area between the Drumbridges and Trago junctions were felled in anticipation of full funding being provided for the scheme.

‘The timing of the clearance was to take advantage of the constraints of the dormice and nesting birds and in order that the contractor could make a swift start on site which was anticipated to be in summer 2024’, the council’s A382 Project website reads.

‘Sadly, we have now not received sufficient funding to do that work but with the anticipation that this section of the A382 improvements will be constructed in the future DCC will be looking to construct the drainage and landscaping as far as possible with the future road area being grassed so that construction can take place with minimum impact on ecology when we have funding’, the website adds.

Elsewhere, some have criticised the council’s approach, saying it would be better to complete the works under traffic-lights.

‘We have considered this very carefully and taken account of the experience of previous work on the A382’, the council said.

‘With the changes in levels needed for the new scheme and the limited space available, it will be impossible to build the scheme and keep the road open to traffic safely’, the council addd.

The council went on to say that if it were to complete the work under traffic-lights, it would extend the duration by another year and road closures would still be needed.