Work starts on Huntingdon relief road

LINKED IN: After years in the planning, work on the £10million Huntingdon West Relief Road started on Monday.

LINKED IN: After years in the planning, work on the £10million Huntingdon West Relief Road started on Monday.

Representatives of Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) and Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) donned hard hats, high visibility jackets and grabbed their spades to take part in a ceremony to mark the start of work on the road that will link Ermine Street with Brampton Road and Huntingdon railway station.

The ceremony signalled the culmination of four years of inquiries, planning applications, consultations and design work – with the clearing of the land and the start of the initial archaeological dig beginning this week.

The project, which is being managed and delivered by CCC in partnership with Atkins Ltd and Jackson Civil Engineering, is expected to be completed in spring 2014.

Councillor Jason Ablewhite, executive leader of HDC, said: “It’s important that during this difficult economic climate we take the opportunity to regenerate an area which will provide retail space, create jobs and provide easier access to the hospital and train station.”

• Pictured (from left): Cllr Peter Brown, Cllr Barbara Boddington, Cllr Ian Bates, Cllr Jason Ablewhite and Cllr Laine Kadic.