June 20, 2018 4.22 pm This story is over 69 months old

Extra Lincoln bypass funding ‘falls to government and tax payer’

We caught up with the man in charge of Lincolnshire highways

The senior county councillor in charge of highways at Lincolnshire County Council has said he is confident that the Lincoln Eastern Bypass will be completed by May 2020

Councillor Richard Davies said he was “very comfortable” with the project timeline despite it being delayed and over budget by £21 million.

The news comes as Lincolnshire County Council appointed Galliford Try as the replacement firm to finish work on the project following the collapse of Carillion in January.

The scheme was supposed to cost £99 million and be completed by December 2019.

Construction work on the Eastern Bypass. Photo: Lincolnshire County Council

However, following the collapse of the initial contractor, the bypass will now cost £120 million and be complete five months later than expected.

Councillor Davies said that money for the extra cost of the project would come from funding from the Department for Transport and the tax payer.

“Now that we’ve got the contractor on site and the initial round of preparatory work has been done, we are very comfortable that it is a reasonable timeline,” he said.

“But, we don’t know what we might find, as with the east west link we found a Roman horse under one of the basements.

“The reality is that when you have waited for something for 50, 60, maybe 80 years, a month delay occasionally is really not significant in the grand scheme of things.”

The new 7.5km single carriageway road is set to minimise congestion in the city, but the project will be late and over budget.

In addition to the Heighington Road bridge and Greetwell Road roundabout, Galliford Try will also be overseeing construction of the Hawthorn Road footbridge, South Delph footbridge and the River Witham Bridge, including its fabrication, supply and assembly.