Warning to Stonehenge summer solstice drivers

BBC
·1-min read
Woman in red above crowd dressed in red near Stonehenge
A section of the A360 will be closed on Thursday [BBC]

Thousands of people heading to Stonehenge for this year's summer solstice have been warned about a road closure in the area.

About 8,000 gathered at the ancient site near Salisbury in 2023 to celebrate the longest day of year - and a similar number is expected on Thursday.

National Highways is advising motorists to leave extra time for journeys and plan ahead if using the A303.

Traffic will be diverted via sections of the A345, A303 and A36. A "comprehensive signage system" will direct motorists around Salisbury to alternative routes, a National Highways spokesperson confirmed.

Drivers have been urged to follow road signs rather than their sat navs, the spokesperson added.

A 40mph speed limit will be in place on the A303 between the Countess roundabout and Longbarrow roundabout. Lay-bys will also be closed along the same route, and the dual carriageway will be reduced to a single lane.

Crowds at Stonehenge as the sun sets
About 8,000 are expected to gather at the ancient site on Thursday [Getty images]

A section of the A360, between the junction of The Avenue and Longbarrow junction on the A303 remains closed for by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, on behalf of National Highways.

With limited parking on site, English Heritage has advised visitors to use public transport or car share.

Buses will run from Salisbury, and pedestrians should use the temporary crossing on the A303 at Stonehenge Cottages.

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

More on this story

Related Internet Links

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • Whistleblower warned Boeing of flaws in 787 planes that could have ‘devastating consequences’

    A whistleblower has come forward Wednesday alleging parts of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner planes were built in an unsafe manner – potentially leading to “devastating consequences.”

  • 8 Electric Vehicles You May Regret Buying

    Whether you want to save money on gas or want to be more environmentally friendly, an electric vehicle can be an appealing option. But with so many EV models on the market, it can be hard to know...

  • I’m a Mechanic: What I Drive and 3 Cars I Steer Clear Of

    The best cars are the ones that stay out of the shop -- and the people who work in those shops know better than anyone which vehicles are most likely to go hundreds of thousands of miles without major...

  • This flight suddenly dropped 26,000 feet, injuring 17 passengers in latest Boeing incident

    A Korean Air flight on a Boeing 737 Max 8 experienced an issue with its pressurization system mid-flight, causing a sudden drop that left 17 injured.

  • Fire breaks out on world’s largest cruise ship

    Crew on board the Icon of the Seas were called on to tackle a small fire this week while the gigantic vessel was berthed in a port in Mexico.

  • Charge an electric car in five minutes? This Cambridge start-up says it can

    A British battery company has developed an electric car that can be charged in just five minutes, in a step towards solving the lengthy plug-in times that frustrate EV drivers.

  • Mercedes-Benz spending more than previously planned on combustion engines - Wiwo

    BERLIN (Reuters) -Mercedes-Benz is investing more than previously planned in combustion engine technology, including 14 billion euros ($15 billion) this year on its passenger cars, its chief executive told German publication Wirtschaftswoche. The premium carmaker was investing in factories and in research and development, reworking the drive train of its hybrid cars so that it "lasts well into the next decade", Ola Kaellenius said in comments published on Thursday. It had also spent "much more" than it usually would on a facelift of the combustion engine version of its flagship S-Class, due to hit the market in mid-2026.

  • Volkswagen to invest $5bn in Tesla electric car rival

    Volkswagen has announced plans to invest up to $5bn (£3.9bn) in US electric carmaker Rivian, as manufacturers rethink their strategies amid uncertain demand.

  • London travel news: Paddington delays for Elizabeth line, Heathrow Express and Glastonbury fans cleared

    Travellers in west London, including music fans heading to Glastonbury Festival, faced long delays on Thursday after a person was hit by a train. Elizabeth line, Great Western Railway (GWR) and Heathrow Express services suffered long delays and cancellations after all lines were closed between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport as well as to Reading. GWR said all lines were blocked at West Ealing on Thursday morning due to "the emergency services dealing with an incident near the railway".

  • The spectacular rise and fall of the ‘Communist Concorde’

    Had you been peering up at the heavens precisely 25 years ago today, somewhere out in the fields on the vague periphery of the Moscow conurbation, you may have seen a ghost.

  • Boeing aims to lift MAX quality control at Renton factory

    At its plane factory near Seattle, Boeing has increased employee training, appointed mentors for new recruits, brought back retirees as coaches and stepped up tracking of performance metrics.- Post-pandemic training blitz - Since January, some 150 Boeing employees have been assigned to Spirit's Wichita operation, a major increase from before, said Katie Ringgold, vice president and general manager for the 737 program.

  • Sparks fly as driver grinds down highway with damaged wheel

    This is the moment a driver captured a car screaming down a highway with a broken front-left wheel in Irving, Texas on June 22. The vehicle kept going for 5 miles until police pulled them over.

  • Opinion: How Boeing CEO’s Catastrophic Reign Could Become Criminal

    Dave Calhoun’s stewardship of Boeing as its CEO has been catastrophic. As he prepares to go, comforted by a $45 million retirement package, Boeing could soon face something virtually unthinkable for such a legendary company—criminal charges.As first reported by Reuters, federal prosecutors have decided to recommend that the Justice Department prosecute Boeing for violating the terms of a deal made in 2021 in which a charge of committing fraud related to two crashes involving the 737 MAX that kil

  • Zeekr's sales jump as Chinese dominate Russian EV market

    Sales of Zeekr electric vehicles have shot up in Russia in the last year, putting Chinese carmakers ahead of local competition in Russia's small but rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV) sector. Chinese carmakers have already seized more than half of Russia's car market since Western competitors pulled out, taking their technology and know-how with them, after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Governments in Europe and the United States are growing increasingly wary of Chinese dominance in the EV sector but Russia, rather than imposing tariffs, is embracing Chinese brands across all automobile sectors to prop up its car industry.

  • A father who lost 2 sons in a Boeing Max crash waits to hear if the US will prosecute the company

    As they travel around Alaska on a long-planned vacation, Ike and Susan Riffel stop now and then to put up stickers directing people to “Live Riffully.” It's a way for the California couple to honor the memories of their sons, Melvin and Bennett, who died in 2019 when a Boeing 737 Max jetliner crashed in Ethiopia. The Riffels and families of other passengers who died in the crash and a similar one in Indonesia a little more than four months earlier are waiting to learn any day now whether the U.S. Justice Department, all these years later, will prosecute Boeing in connection with the two disasters, which killed 346 people.

  • Car of the Week: This Pristine 2015 McLaren P1 Could Fetch $1.3 Million at Auction

    Presented by Bonhams, the single-owner example of the 903 hp model is one of only 375 ever built.

  • Volkswagen recalls more than 271,000 vehicles due to defective airbags

    Volkswagen has recalled 271,330 of its Atlas SUV vehicles due to faulty passenger-side airbags.

  • Electric car battery charges in under five minutes in track test

    The charging time is much quicker than even the fastest-charging batteries currently on the market.

  • Heathrow baggage chaos as British Airways passengers left without belongings and stranded for hours due to IT failure

    British Airways travellers were forced to travel without their clothes and faced huge delays due to a technical issue

  • 6 killed in Slovakia train and bus collision

    A collision between a train and a bus in Slovakia has killed six people and injured at least five more, according to the country’s emergency services.