EM/138/03
NEWARK-LINCOLN IMPROVEMENT FOUR MONTHS EARLY
RED ARROWS HELP HIGHWAYS AGENCY CELEBRATE IN STYLE
Roads Minister David Jamieson helped the Highways Agency to open the £28m A46 Newark to Lincoln improvement today, four months ahead of schedule.
Speaking to around 100 guests at the roadside ceremony, Mr Jamieson said:
"The Government is committed to tackling congestion through better road infrastructure and raising standards to make travel safer. Good transport is essential to a better environment and our quality of life.
"Hundreds of major schemes are being carried out around the country which will improve traffic flow, create safer junctions and bypass communities blighted by traffic and I''m delighted to be here to open one such improvement.
"This is a wonderful day for all those who have been involved with the delivery of this scheme as well as all those who will benefit from it.
"The dualling of the A46 will bring many benefits. It will significantly improve road safety by reducing the number of accidents, saving 26 personal injury accidents and at least one fatality every year. It will reduce congestion and driver frustration and improve journey times by allowing traffic to flow smoothly and overtake safely. The Brough Bypass will significantly enhance the environment for villagers who have effectively had their community severed by the old A46, and the scheme as a whole will encourage regeneration of the area.
"I congratulate all those involved with the construction of this project. Not only have they have delivered a hugely beneficial improvement, they have also delivered it four months early. It''s a marvellous achievement."
To help with the celebrations the world-famous Red Arrows swooped in for a flypast along the new route, shortly after Mr Jamieson cut a ribbon across the carriageway on the Brough Bypass.
He said: "I am delighted the Red Arrows could be part of our celebrations today. As a Lincolnshire-based team it was particularly appropriate that they helped us mark the occasion and I thank them for their support. The flypast was a fitting finale to this project."
As part of the ceremony, a prayer of thanks for the new road and all who have worked on it was offered by the Rev Martin Amery, Superintendent Minister for the Newark and Southwell Methodist Circuit.
The A46 Newark to Lincoln Improvement has involved dualling an eight-mile (13km) stretch of road. It follows the line of the original A46 between the A1133 Winthorpe and the A1434 Hykeham roundabouts, with the exception of a 1.5 mile (2.5km) bypass for Brough village. The scheme has also involved provision of several new junctions where the various side roads meet or cross the A46, a new roundabout at Swinderby and two new bridges at Haddington and Brough.
Six emergency lay-bys have been constructed and there are two rest areas along the Brough bypass with picnic tables and public information panels detailing the archaeology of the area. The Brough rest areas also double as abnormal load waiting areas. All lay-bys and rest areas have been fitted with emergency roadside telephones.
In addition, lighting columns have been installed along the length of the scheme to further improve safety. The lanterns which have been used are environmentally sensitive as they concentrate the light on to the road, reducing glare into the surrounding sky.
The Highways Agency awarded the contract to Alfred McAlpine Civil Engineering on 30 October 2001 with a completion deadline of November 2003. Around 1,400 people have worked on the scheme, with a total of 469,856 man hours worked on site. During construction, 36,000 cubic metres of earth was removed - equivalent to 38 lorry loads.
However, the project has not just involved road-building. There has also been a detailed programme of environmental mitigation and archaeological excavation. Ecological surveys were carried out before work started to find out about the fauna and flora in the area, and an ecologist supervised all work affecting the natural environment.
Thirteen kilometres of hedgerow and 130,000 trees and shrubs will be planted along the route, using locally common species, to replace that lost during the road construction, and the new verges will bloom with a diverse mix of grass and wild flower species such as red fescue, yarrow and lady''s bedstraw.
The Agency has also created a new pond and installed amphibian fencing to protect the colony of Great Crested Newts and frogs in the area, provided several kilometres of badger fencing and four badger tunnels and put up more than 100 bat and bird boxes in trees in the areas taken for essential landscaping.
As this section of the A46 roughly corresponds with the Roman Fosse Way, the scheme had a consequent impact on a site of great historic interest. Although excavations uncovered the original Fosse Way, evidence was also uncovered of much earlier settlements than the Roman era.
Finds included: - Bronze Age pottery and Neolithic arrowheads at Langford; - A Bronze Age cremation cemetery, with urns containing remains, at Glebe Farm; - evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement, with building foundations pottery, and a 6th Century brooch, also at Glebe Farm; - Middle Bronze Age ring ditch cemetery, with ornamented vessels, at Langford Hall; - Evidence of Iron Age roundhouses and agricultural activity at Brough; and - Iron Age field enclosures and houses at Gallows Nooking Common
Highways Agency Project Manager Jonathan Pizzey said:
"Now the road is fully open I would like to take the opportunity to thank local people and the travelling public for their support and patience over the last 18 months. A scheme of this magnitude has the potential to cause a great deal of inconvenience and delays but I''m delighted to say this has been kept to a minimum throughout the contract.
"I would ask people using the improved A46 to treat it with respect, drive safely, and obey the signs and speed limits and take extra care as they get used to the new layout."
Notes to Editors
1. The Highways Agency is an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport, which manages, maintains and improves the network of trunk roads and motorways in England on behalf of the Secretary of State. It works closely with other transport operators and with local authorities to integrate the trunk road network with the rest of England''s roads and other forms of transport. More information is available at http://www.highways.gov.uk
2. Further information about the scheme is detailed in a commemorative brochure, while a separate report has been prepared detailing the archaeological finds. Media copies are available from GNN on the number below. Photography from today''s event is also available from GNN.
3. The scheme contractors were Alfred McAlpine Civil Enginnering Ltd, of Retford. Scheme designers were Scott Wilson, of Chesterfield, and the Highways Agency''s site agent was URS, of Bedford.
