Where is the traffic along the A46 travelling to and from?
Where is the traffic along the A46 travelling to and from?
An Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) survey was undertaken on Wednesday 21st September 2022 for 12 hours (from 0700 to 1900) to understand how much traffic using the A46 route typically travels to and from the local area versus how much traffic was travelling through Ashchurch to and from the M5 motorway. Cameras were set up for 12 sites (covering both the eastbound and westbound directions) between the A46 east of Aston Cross and the A438 immediately east of M5 Junction 9, recording where vehicles were first and last seen.
The following diagrams show the destination traffic travelling westbound from the A46 east of Aston Cross (at the location indicated by the yellow dot). The data is presented firstly for all vehicles (across the 12 hours), followed by just heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). This data is also summarised in the table underneath the figures, showing the number of matched registration plates recorded across 12 hours as well as the percentages shown in the diagrams.
| 3NB | 4SB | 5SB | 6NB | 7NB | 9SB | 11NB | 12WB | Total | |
| All vehicle plates | 435 | 26 | 72 | 324 | 110 | 2996 | 981 | 1077 | 6021 |
| All vehicle percentage | 7.2% | 0.4% | 1.2% | 5.4% | 1.8% | 49.8% | 16.3% | 17.9% | 100% |
| HGV plates | 30 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 15 | 415 | 190 | 85 | 762 |
| HGV percentage | 3.9% | 0.0% | 0.5% | 3.0% | 2.0% | 54.5% | 24.9% | 11.2% | 100% |
Of all vehicles recorded travelling west along the A46 (east of the Aston Cross junction), almost half (49.8%) travel to the M5 heading south (site 9SB), with a further 16.3% of vehicles travelling to the M5 in the northbound direction (site 11NB). In total, this accounts for two thirds of all vehicular traffic movements captured on this part of the route. For HGVs these proportions are higher, with 54.5% of HGVs heading south and 24.9% heading north.
The next figures below show the pattern in the reverse direction, showing where traffic seen travelling eastbound on the A46 east of Aston Cross has arrived from. Again, the first diagram shows the pattern for all vehicles with the next diagram showing the pattern for HGVs.
| 3SB | 4NB | 5NB | 6SB | 7SB | 8SB | 10NB | 12EB | Total | |
| All vehicle plates | 70 | 0 | 13 | 57 | 8 | 114 | 201 | 87 | 550 |
| All vehicle percentage | 6.5% | 0.3% | 1.3% | 7.5% | 1.8% | 17.8% | 48.4% | 16.3% | 100% |
| HGV plates | 19 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 11 | 201 | 498 | 72 | 826 |
| HGV percentage | 2.3% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 2.7% | 1.3% | 24.3% | 60.3% | 8.7% | 100% |
Of all vehicles travelling east along the A46 (east of the Aston Cross junction), approximately two thirds originate from the M5 (48.4% travelling from the south and 17.8% travelling from the north). Almost 85% of HGVs along the same stretch of road originate from the M5, again with the majority (60.3%) travelling from the south. The pattern is therefore very similar to that seen for the westbound direction.