September 13, 2012 3.14 pm This story is over 138 months old

Council push for Lincoln Eastern Bypass dual carriageway

Wider road: County Council will lobby for more money to build the Lincoln Eastern Bypass as a dual carriageway.

Lincolnshire County Council will lobby for more money to build the Lincoln Eastern Bypass as a dual carriageway.

The Department for Transport approved last year a £50 million bid to go towards the expected cost of £98 million for the bypass.

The initial plans proposed a £112 million dual carriageway, but this shifted to a single carriageway due to spending cuts.

However, a recent Government minister reshuffle means that Lincolnshire County Council can lobby the new Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, for more funds for the Lincoln bypass.

County Council Leader Martin Hill told The Lincolnite: “It’s important we get an Eastern bypass for Lincoln, to make sure we can get traffic moving and boost the economy.

“The government did give a strong steer recently that they were looking for infrastructure projects that could kick-start economic growth nationally.

“Also with a new Minister for Transport, it’s worth testing the water to do all we can to make sure any extra money the government has comes Lincoln’s way.

“If you don’t ask, you don’t receive. It would cost more to dual it later in the future, so if we could do it now, it would make sense.”

Lincolnshire County Council is already making a contribution of £14 million and is acting as ‘guarantor’ to underwrite the £34 million third party funded element for the current Lincoln bypass plans.

It will take around two years to build the bypass, which is expected to create some 30,000 local jobs over the next 15 years.

The road will start from the A158 Wragby Road in the north, crossing over the River Witham on a new bridge and continuing south to end at the A15 Sleaford Road, east of Bracebridge Heath and have junctions with Greetwell Road, B11990 Washingborough and B1188 to Branston.

Related Report: BBC Lincolnshire