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Jan
A59 re-opens at Kex Gill
The Stray Ferret has reported on the £68.8 million Kex Gill more than any other media publication. We have made this article free tom read. To see all our Kex Gill coverage, and have access to the rest of our site, please subscribe here. It costs as little as 14p a day
The A59 has reopened to traffic at Kex Gill ahead of schedule.
More than 2,000 tonnes of debris which slipped down from the slope in the latest landslip, have been removed.
Repair work has also seen 50 metres of drainage channels installed and the introduction of about 100 tonnes of clean stone to stabilise the area.
The A59 is the main route between Harrogate and Skipton.
North Yorkshire Council awarded Harrogate construction firm HACS the contract for the work.
The Stray Ferret exclusively revealed to subscribers the council allocated £300,000 for the repair work.
The landslip occurred in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Contractors at Kex Gill.
Work was scheduled to be completed by Wednesday, January 29, but a council statement today said "favourable weather conditions and extended working hours by the contactors" enabled it to open six days early.
Cllr Keane Duncan, the council’s executive member for highways and transportation, said:
I am pleased to confirm that work to repair the A59 at Kex Gill, following the landslip on New Year’s Day, has been completed earlier than anticipated.
I’d like to thank road users and local residents for their patience, and the hard work and commitment of HACS and our own highways team for getting the work completed as safely and as quickly as possible.
This was the 15th closure since 2000 and emphasises the importance of delivering our £68 million scheme to bypass this problem area and avoid disruptive closures happening in future.
The realignment of Kex Gill is the council’s largest ever highways project. It involves creating a new four-kilometre stretch of road to replace the existing part of the A59 which has been affected by the landslips.
The new road to be open next spring.
Although the A59 is now open, road users are being advised to travel with caution following the announcement that the north of the country is due to experience up to 90mph winds tomorrow (Friday, January 24) as a result of Storm Éowyn.
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