A421 dualling
We worked with Milton Keynes Council to upgrade the A421 road, by installing dual carriageway from the Eagle Farm roundabout down to Junction 13 of the M1. That stretch of the A421 road is used by almost 30,000 vehicles a day.
The upgraded road provides residents with greater opportunities for leisure activities, housing and employment. It will also help take traffic away from local parishes, increase safety, and benefit local businesses as well as commuters.
Benefits
As well as easing congestion, the upgraded A421 road will help improve access to planned developments in Central Bedfordshire, such as the 5,000 homes proposed in new villages in the Marston Vale area (in our Local Plan), as well as 40 hectares of employment land.
There's a new cycleway and footway (3 metres wide) along the length of the newly dualled A421. This will run from Cranfield Road bridge through to Hayfield Farm (near the M1 junction), along the southern side of the carriageway. This will then lead to a new bridge towards Hulcote, which will include a bridleway.
Previously there were no safe routes for pedestrians beside the A421, so we built a new cycleway which stretches along the length of the newly dualled A421 and a footbridge over it. The new cycleway is part of a future larger cycle network. The new footbridge, which includes a bridleway, will greatly improve facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders, who will benefit from being able to use our improved public rights of way.
Funding
In March 2018, the Department for Transport announced that it had approved £23.5 million worth of funding from SEMLEP's Local Growth Fund for the project. Both ourselves and Milton Keynes Council are also each contributed up to £3 million towards this project.