The Grantham Southern Relief Road has been delayed due to a key bridge needing to be redesigned. The road has been under construction since 2015 and aims to reduce congestion in the area by moving the A52 out of Grantham.
Whilst most of the project has been completed, a fundamental part is connecting the relief road over the East Coast railway line and the River Witham, says Lincolnshire Live, but Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways at Lincolnshire County Council, has explained that “there was a problem with the design”.
He is “confident” that the road will be completed next year but can not confirm an exact date. Due to the redesign and issues caused by the delay, there will be an additional cost to the project of an estimated £10m to £20m.
This means there is now a total expected cost of £158m to £168m for the project. Mr Davies said: “During the course of the final planning work for the design of the push it became apparent to the experts that there was a problem with the design. We have to rely on the experts at this point and the design team, so this has to be redesigned.”
The county council has spent the last few months addressing the issue and redesigning the bridge, but “there is going to be a delay to the project.” Councillor Davies stated: “The Grantham Southern Relief Road will not be opening until next year.”
The issues with the rollout of the bridge over the River Witham and the East Coast Main Line will also delay completion of the route by a year to 2026.
Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: “This mistake related to the how the bridge was to be installed and us being told it couldn’t be pushed into place as intended due to concerns relating to specific wind conditions. Safety comes first, so the work was halted so our designers and contractors could address the problem.”
Galliford Try is main contractor on the current third phase and also built the second phase which was completed in 2022.
A Galliford Try spokesperson said: “Galliford Try continues to work in a collaborative manner with all the stakeholders on Grantham Southern Relief Road to ensure the safe and timely delivery of this vital piece of infrastructure.
“The challenges that have led to the reported delays relate to the design of the bridge across the River Witham and the East Coast Main Line and Galliford Try is contracted on a construct-only basis on the project.”
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