Travel and Access

This section provides information about travel, transport and accessibility issues in Somerset.

The county is strategically well positioned between Bristol and the South West peninsula. The M5 and A303 trunk routes pass through the county, as do the main railways linking the peninsula to London and to Wales, the Midlands and the rest of England.

However, because this small number of strategic transport routes accessing the South West peninsula are all channelled through Somerset, this presents an inherent lack of resilience which needs to be addressed. The South West peninsula has been entirely cut off at times due to flooding events resulting in closures of road and rail routes in Somerset. There is no suitable alternative road route when the M5 is closed due to traffic incidents or other events. 

The rural nature of West Somerset in particular poses challenges with regard to accessibility by road to key services and employment centres, especially on foot and public transport. Please see our Rural Transport page for more information.

Most Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in West Somerset are amongst the 20% most deprived in the country for barriers to housing and services. Furthermore, roughly 40% of the whole county's population live in England's 20% most deprived areas for geographical barriers.

Pages in this Section

• Accessibility Indicators
• Road traffic
• Bus Usage
• Railway station usage
• Road Safety
• Road Safety dashboard
• Road Casualties - Rural and Urban
• Transport and Older People
• Households with no car or van

Other documents:

• Somerset transport strategies (links to Somerset County Council website)