County council offers answer to commuters and shoppers driving into and around Lincoln with dualled bypass approval

Lincolnshire County Council’s Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee heard how officers had also explored single carriageway plans, which would cost around £100 million.

Initial estimates plan that developers’ contributions would raise more than £10 million for the project, with the Government being asked to supply 70% (£104 million) towards the new road.

If all goes as planned it would leave the county with £35 million to pay.

Council officer Mark Heaton said the benefits included future growth, accident reductions and ‘congestion busting’.

Although the route could not be defined as part of the East Coast highway he said it would bring resilience to the city by giving ‘multitudes of options’ for routes around the city.

Councillor Rodney Grocock called the scheme a ‘no brainer’, and said LCC should be looking to dual carriageway ‘as many roads as we can’.

“This will assist our emergency services as well and save lives,” he said.

Executive portfolio holder for Highways Richard Davies called the ‘ambitious and expensive project’ a way of improving A46 connectivity from the Midlands all the way through to the Humber port.

He added: “We wanted the Lincoln Eastern Bypass to be dual carriageway because it makes no sense that when you’re building major infrastructure like this you shouldn’t always aim to make a dual carriageway.

“The Government previously prevented us from building one on the Lincoln Eastern Bypass for financial reasons and I, while I won’t necessarily agree I understand that.

“For the price of a stretch of Dual Carriageway in one location you can build two bits of road in two other locations, I get that, however its this British approach we have to infrastructure we have that’s remarkably short-sighted.

“That’s very frustrating and that’s why we are trying again to build a dual carriageway – whether the Government will let us remains to be seen.”