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The final weekend road closure at Greetwell Road in Lincoln has been cancelled as good progress has been made on the bypass works.

Weekend road closures started on Saturday, September 19 and were scheduled to last up to six weeks.

However, favourable weather and good progress with the works means the closure for October 24 to 26 is no longer needed.

This was seen as the final series of road closures for the area as Lincoln Eastern Bypass continues to develop ahead of its expected completion later this year.

Lincolnshire county councillor, Richard Davies, executive member for highways. | Photo: Steve Smailes.

Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: “Similar to our recent bypass works at Lincoln Road roundabout, I’m glad to announce that we were able to complete our works at Greetwell Road this past weekend.

“As a result, we won’t need to close the road this weekend, like we originally thought, meaning we can avoid the disruption this final closure would have caused.

“Ahead of opening Lincoln’s new bypass by the end of the year, the focus will be on finishing the installation of new drainage and kerbing across the entire route; laying road surfacing, painting white lines and installing road signs; and putting the finishing touches on two of the scheme’s biggest pieces of infrastructure – the new River Witham Viaduct and the new bridge spanning over the Lincoln to Market Rasen rail line in Greetwell.”

The £120 million single carriageway bypass will start at a new roundabout on the A15 Sleaford Road and finish at the A158 Wragby Road.

Health bosses expect more areas of the UK to go into higher tiers in the coming weeks, including potentially “some areas of Lincolnshire”.

Assistant director of public health Tony McGinty said there were “no discussions” currently ongoing with government agencies about numbers in Lincolnshire.

However, he said numbers of COVID cases will continue to increase.

On Thursday, the total number across Greater Lincolnshire passed the 4,000 mark — nearly five times September’s figure of 820.

The county is currently on the lowest tier (medium), which means it is subject to the general measures of tackling COVID, such as the 10pm hospitality curfew and the rule of six.

However, Lincolnshire borders tier 3 lockdowns in South Yorkshire, while to the west Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire has reportedly escaped the fate of some of its neighbours in going up to the highest level of restrictions.

Mr McGinty said: “I believe that more areas of the country, including potentially some areas of Lincolnshire, may be asked to consider going up a tier, or we may decide that we simply need to go up to tier to get to get additional control measures in place.

“That will be happening all over the country over the coming weeks now.” It is understood this could happen by the end of November.

Mr McGinty said more “sensitive” local control measures were still the best way forward for now, but added “the time may come where that isn’t feasible anymore”.

“The longer that we can allow areas that can manage it to have more economic, social and well-being freedom, the better.

“We face a very long winter otherwise, if we go to the higher levels of restrictions earlier than we need to.”

Lincolnshire is tier 1 – medium – lockdown.

Although there is no published criteria for which areas move up and down a tier, it is understood to include those areas with a rate of more than 100-150 cases a week per 100,000, as well as how long they have been in that bracket.

According to the latest government data, Lincolnshire’s latest seven-day rate was 102.1 per 100,000. Meanwhile North East Lincolnshire was 229.4 and North Lincolnshire was 159.

At a district level, Lincoln (166.2), South Kesteven (112.3) and Boston (106.9) all sit within the criteria level.

The worst affected parts of the Greater Lincolnshire region include New Waltham (409.5) and the Great Coates and The Willows (482.5) areas in the Grimsby area.

Greater Lincolnshire is doing much better than its neighbours for COVID-19 infection rates but numbers are rising rapidly.

In Lincoln, the Wharf and University (337.7) and Boultham and New Boultham (323.5) areas have the highest infection rates in the most recent figures.

However, health bosses warn that the more local you get with figures, the more variation you might see on a week-to-week basis.

This number can also be hugely affected by the density of population, as well as smaller localised outbreaks in locations such as a schools, care homes or factories.

A competitive eater with over one million YouTube subscribers has become the first to beat an eating challenge at a Lincoln cafe.

Beard Meets Food, otherwise known as Adam Moran, saw the challenge on The Lincolnite when news dropped about Harty’s Cafe in North Hykeham’s ‘heart attack’ breakfast.

The mammoth tray comes with five sausages, five pieces of bacon, three eggs, four slices of toast and two fried bread slices, all on a bed of chips, as well as large bowls of mushrooms, beans and chopped tomatoes, plus a hot drink.

You have 30 minutes to eat it all — if you defeat it you get the meal free and appear on the wall of fame, if you don’t, it’ll set you back £20.

Beard Meets Food was sent The Lincolnite story to give the challenge a go.

He completed the challenge with over 10 minutes left.

But the heart attack breakfast challenge was no match for Adam’s competitive eating.

Adam, 35, completed the challenge with over ten minutes remaining, becoming the first to do so, before jokingly asking: “Do you have a dessert menu?”

Jo Hart, owner of Harty’s cafe, said: “This will help people know that my business exists, publicity wise it’s definitely got our name out there.”

Beard Meets Food has taken on hundreds of eating challenges in his five years on YouTube, culminating almost 250 million channel views.

The former banker currently holds the British record for most Big Macs eaten, as well as being the 2015 Yorkshire Pudding Eating World Champion.

He also has his stomach and tastebuds insured for £1 million due to the importance of his brand to his life.

You can check out his YouTube channel here, or follow him on Instagram and Twitter.