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15
Jul
Road closures announced as work continues on A59 Kex Gill realignment
Road closures are set to be put in place on the A59 at Kex Gill as work continues on the realignment scheme.
The £82.5 million transport scheme, the biggest ever undertaken by North Yorkshire Council, will see 4.8 kilometres of new road constructed in the landslip-prone area.
The council has announced that traffic will be transferred to part of the new road from July 22 and will be controlled by temporary traffic lights.
Meanwhile, a range of road closures will also be in place in the coming weeks as work continues on the scheme:
- Hall Lane is now closed at its junction with the A59 until Wednesday, July 22.
- From Wednesday, July 22, traffic will move onto a section of the new road at Blubberhouses under single lane, controlled by temporary traffic lights.
- From the same date, Church Hill will be closed at its junction with the A59 for eight weeks to allow completion of the new junction layout.
- The car park at Fewston Reservoir will also remain closed during this period.
Meanwhile, full closures of the A59 will be required at both ends of the scheme to complete resurfacing works.
The council said these will be restricted to evening and night-time periods to minimise disruption. During daytime hours, the route will remain open under temporary traffic light control
The closures are currently due to be put in place for the week commencing August 17 at the western end and the week commencing September 21 at the eastern end.
Kex Gill and Cllr Malcolm Taylor
Cllr Malcolm Taylor, executive councillor for highways at the council, told the Stray Ferret contractors were working "tirelessly" and the project was “nearing its final stages”.
He said wet weather during June meant that some surfacing work had been delayed.
The council said it had spent £6 million repairing 15 landslips on the current road at Kex Gill since 2000.
As well as the construction of the new carriageway, the project encompasses new bridleways and footpaths, four kilometres of natural stone walls, two balancing ponds, and an extensive environmental scheme to enrich local habitats in this national landscape, including planting 12,000 trees and installing several bird and barn owl boxes.
The new road, a key trans-Pennine route between Harrogate and Skipton, was originally due to open in May 2025 at a cost of £68.8 million.
But the date was pushed back to June 3 this year due to adverse winter weather and the cost rose by £13.7 million.
A report on May 26 said the new road was now due to open on July 6 — a week before the start of the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate — however it later emerged that the road would not be open by then either.
A new date for the opening of the road has yet to be revealed.
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