Work has been completed to improve the A56 Chester Road at Daresbury for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Halton Borough Council secured £14.5m of Liverpool City Region funding for the East Runcorn Connectivity scheme and Balfour Beatty recently completed the necessary works, which were procured via the SCAPE framework.
Funding for the project was from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), a pot of £710m set aside for major transport infrastructure projects across the Liverpool City Region.
The work was completed two weeks ahead of schedule, which enabled all the diversions to be removed, and the Council is encouraging drivers to revert to using the A56 as their main route.
Several sections of the A56 required reconstruction work to remediate defective material used in the original construction, which led to poor ride quality on the approach to Sci-Tech Daresbury. This has been a longstanding issue and until now sufficient funding wasn’t available to rectify the problem.
The scheme enabled resurfacing of the road to take place from the Daresbury Park Hotel to Halton’s borough boundary with Warrington as well as improve the surface water drain capacity along this route.
A new traffic light junction for the Redrow housing development at Delph Lane has been installed, which will also help pedestrians and cyclists cross the busy dual carriageway, and there is a new footpath between Delph Lane and Keckwick Lane to help link Daresbury village and its facilities with the new housing estate and beyond.
Cllr Mike Wharton, Halton Borough Council Leader, says: “We were delighted to secure this funding from the Liverpool City Region for much-needed improvements to this busy section of road for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.
“As well as improving the journey into Sci-Tech Daresbury, the scheme now provides a vital, safe connection between the new housing development and Daresbury village.
“The East Runcorn Connectivity scheme as a whole is providing safer, better-connected routes which will hopefully encourage residents to make healthier, more sustainable travel choices.”