Council awards Ely Southern Bypass project
VolkerFitzpatrick has been awarded the contract to design and build the Ely Southern Bypass.
The Ely southern bypass is a proposed new road connecting the A142 at Angel Drove to Stuntney Causeway. The total cost of the project is worth £35 million and includes a 1.7 km long single carriageway road including a viaduct crossing the Great Ouse and bridges over two railway lines.
The area around Ely station is currently heavily congested with lorries and other larger vehicles which are not able to use the low underpass and queue for the level crossing. The bypass will divert lorries and through traffic away from the railway crossing relieving these problems. The proposed bypass will ease congestion in Ely, reduce the need for traffic to pass the railway station and allow the level crossing to be closed.
Worked on detailed designs will now be undertaken with work on site expected to start at the beginning of 2017.
As part of the new road bridge over the River Great Ouse there will be a walkway attached to the bridge that will face towards Ely. The walkway will link the Fen Rivers Way and Ouse Valley Way footpaths together, providing a new circular walking route for residents and visitors to Ely. It will also improve access to the River Great Ouse Country Wildlife Site and give new views of Ely and its surrounding landscape.
The existing underpass will be remodelled to improve conditions for cyclists and pedestrians and the bypass will include a subway for cyclists at its junction with Stuntney Causeway.
Bob Menzies, Service Director for Strategy and Development, said: 'We're delighted to be working with VolkerFitzpatrick. The new bypass will boost transport links for local people as well as easing congestion. In particular it will dramatically reduce the congestion around Ely Railway station and the low underpass.'
Chris Evans, Managing Director of the civil engineering division for VolkerFitzpatrick added: 'This is an exciting project to be working on, which we hope will be highly effective in relieving some of the congestion that people experience in Ely. It should also increase people's access to the local countryside as well as speeding up journey times for commuting traffic.'
