Crucial new road scheme completed

A NEW £10 million dual carriageway to improve the link from the British Motor Museum at Gaydon to the M40 motorway has been completed after 18 months’ work.

The new road – which Warwickshire County Council describes as an important strategic project for the area – is just under a mile in length (or 1.5 kilometres).

Replacing the B4100 and B4451, the scheme has been funded equally by the county council, the Department for Transport (DfT) Pinch Point Fund and the Regional Growth Fund via the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP).

The county council said it was the first of a number of improvements which, when complete, would reduce congestion, improve safety and unlock a number of proposed major new development sites at Gaydon and the immediate area.

A further £1.5 million has been provided by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to accommodate extending the scheme to ensure that there is sufficient capacity on the network to allow traffic to reach its site safely while JLR continues to develop its internal infrastructure.

The construction contract has been awarded to and work is due to start on Monday 8th December and take 13 months to complete.

Cllr Peter Butlin, the county council’s portfolio holder for transport and planning, said: “The project will provide vital safety improvements on the motorway and surrounding roads and that is essential as the situation needs to be addressed to keep road users safe.

“We recognise that the road, as it was, was dangerous for road users and this work, both the county council’s and Highways England’s schemes, will address that.”

Pete Richings, of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “The role of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership is to help drive growth in our economy and this project will do just that as well as improving safety on the road system in the area.

“It is vital that we allow areas and companies to achieve their potential, and ensuring that key infrastructure is in place to allow development is a key ingredient to making that happen.

“This is just the first phase of improvements which will unlock some considerable economic investment.”

Cllr Philip Johnson, chairman of the county council’s communities overview and scrutiny committee, said: “The improvements to this junction are critical to the economic development of the county and will greatly improve access for workers at the Jaguar Land Rover site and other proposed development sites in the area.

“We need to make sure that the area is easily and safely accessible by road; these works will do much to achieve that.”