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10
Jun
New road at Kex Gill will not open before Great Yorkshire Show
A new section of road on the A59 at Kex Gill will not be open for the Great Yorkshire Show, the county’s transport chief has said.
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 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, which takes place from July 14 to 17.
The new road runs parallel with the old one, visible at top right.
However, it has now emerged that it won't be ready by then, raising the prospect of travel delays for people heading to the show from the west.
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”.
However, he said wet weather this month has meant that some surfacing work would now be delayed.
Cllr Taylor said:
As the project moves into its final stages, work is focused on completing the remaining surfacing, installing safety features and finishing key junctions. While the new road will open this summer, additional work on the scheme has always been planned and will continue until the autumn.
The wet weather in June has meant that surfacing is now expected to be completed towards the end of the month, and therefore this section of road will not open before the Great Yorkshire Show.
Cllr Taylor added that the council had a wider traffic management plan in place for the show, which would “keep disruption to a minimum”.
He added: "Last year’s show was staged while work continued on the Kex Gill project, and we did not experience any significant issues while people were travelling to and from the event."
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.
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