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13
Jan
Opening date of new road at Kex Gill revealed
A new 4.2-kilometre section of the A59 at Kex Gill will open to traffic on June 3, it was revealed last night (January 12).
Karl Battersby, North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director for environment, discussed the civil engineering project at a packed meeting of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce at Rudding Park.
Mr Battersby described the £82.5 million scheme as “the biggest construction scheme the council has ever done” and said it would be “a real achievement” when the road opens.
The A59 is the main east-west link between Harrogate and Skipton but he said the “existing road is slowly but surely disappearing down the hillside” due to frequent landslips.
A still from a flyover video of the Kex Gill site.
Mr Battersby said the council had spent £3 million repairing the existing road during construction of the new road because of landslips, the most recent of which occurred on January 1 last year.
He said the project had involved creating 9 km of drainage, taking down and rebuilding almost two miles of stonewalls, creating otter ledges and planting 80,000 trees in a “pretty unforgiving environment”.
Between now and June, the bridge at Blubberhouses is due to be re-waterproofed and the tie-ins to the existing road will be constructed.
He added:
We are programmed that the road will be open to traffic on June 3. We are praying on the weather. We have done quite a lot of the principal earthworks and excavations now and there is black stuff starting to go down on the road to protect it through the winter so with a fair wind we should be open at the beginning of June to traffic and we will then have to decommission the existing road.
We are having to keep a section of the existing road to provide a private access into some residential properties but the rest of it effectively will be returned to nature so we will be depositing material on site and planting 80,000-plus tress. That will probably take another 18 months after construction and the road is open to traffic. So you’ll still see work ongoing but all the risk part from my perspective will be done when the road reopens.
Council chief executive Richard Flinton and council leader Councillor Carl Les were also at last night's chamber briefing and discussed issues such as the Station Gateway and housing. Look for further coverage on the Stray Ferret.
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