One of the key stages of a multi-million pound road building scheme in Lichfield has been completed.
Work to build an underpass for the new stretch of the Lichfield Southern Bypass to go beneath the cross-city railway line has now been completed.
Construction crews installed the new railway bridge in a four-day period over Christmas.
It means the final stage of constructing the £17.5million road building scheme can now take place.
Staffordshire County Council’s economic growth leader, Cllr Mark Winnington, said:
“The final section of the Lichfield Southern Bypass is vital for the city’s future growth – reducing congestion in the city centre, enabling development and helping to attract future investment.
“The scheme is progressing well and the work taking place over the Christmas period was a major engineering success.
“It involved a lot of careful planning and was completed on schedule. It was great to see the team in action when I visited the site – they have done a tremendous job.”
Cllr Mark Winnington, Staffordshire County Council
The next phase of the project will see the retaining walls under the bridge built to allow the site to be connected to the traffic island linking Birmingham Road and Falkland Road.
The new road will also link with a proposed housing development and a new primary school.
Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Council’s Cabinet member for investment, economic growth and tourism, said:
“For anyone who saw the work over Christmas to install the new rail bridge, they will have seen a crucial part of the project to deliver improvements for Lichfield take place.
“Once the new bypass is open we can look forward to the ability to direct traffic around, rather than through, our historic city centre. This offers better connections, and we will also see a new primary school, mixed use community hub with retail outlets and community use buildings, as well as cycle ways, open spaces for sport and children’s play areas, delivered for our district.”
Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Council
