Ceremony gets the show on the road
Friday, 10 June 2022
A traditional ‘breaking the ground’ event has signalled work starting on a road that leads to growth, homes and jobs.
The Arlesey Relief Road is a 1.4km link between Arlesey High Street and the A507 that creates access to council-owned land known as Chase Farm. This enables the building of about 950 new homes, community facilities and business developments.
Coordinated and led by Central Bedfordshire Council, the project will also shift traffic from the busy Arlesey High Street onto the new road to ease congestion and reduce journey times for road users heading to the A507.
As part of the scheme, dedicated cycleways and footways will sit alongside the carriageway and a new bridge over the A507 will complete a route from Arlesey to the popular Etonbury Woods and local schools. The bridge will also feature a viewing platform at tree canopy level for people to enjoy the woodland and wildlife.
The new footways, cycleways and bridge will encourage more active travel and, with the planting of over 500 new trees, the scheme will support sustainability which is an important priority for the council.
Councillor Richard Wenham, Leader of Central Bedfordshire Council, said:
This road will drive forward new investment, stimulate new development, lead to quality new homes, offer new cycling and walking routes and the planting of trees to support our sustainability goals and will have significant benefits for the local community. We are committed to instigating and investing in schemes that have a positive impact on the lives of our Central Bedfordshire residents.
Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire, said:
This is a momentous day for a transformational road scheme for Arlesey and Central Bedfordshire. It will unlock new development and have a positive impact for the local community. Central Bedfordshire Council deserves great credit for bringing another important infrastructure project to fruition.
Jacobs designed the road scheme and John Sisk and Son is the main contractor. The road is expected to take about 18 months to complete.
A flythrough showing the scheme is below.