National Highways’ work to build a £150million bypass along the A585 near Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire has been given a boost – by a former transport minister. Blackpool North and Cleveleys MP Paul Maynard was under secretary in the Department for Transport until February of last year and visited the construction site on Friday (15 October), declaring his satisfaction with progress on the project so far. National Highways, formerly Highways England, is building a new dual carriageway bypass around Little Singleton and improving junctions at Windy Harbour and Skippool near Poulton-le-Fylde. The road links Fleetwood with the M55 and the new bypass will remove a significant congestion bottleneck and support the delivery of new homes and jobs in the area – including in Mr Maynard’s constituency which includes a large section of the A585 west of the bypass. Mr Maynard, who has also served on the Transport Select Committee, was given a tour by the project team who updated him on the scheme, which is due to open to traffic in 2023. In July, Fylde MP Mark Menzies was given a similar tour and Friday’s visit was a chance for National Highways to show how much progress has been made since then – with work progressing well on new road layouts at Skippool and Skippool Bridge junctions and construction of the new bypass itself near Poulton and Lodge Lane. After his visit Mr Maynard said: “I campaigned for this relief road before being elected over 11 years ago, so it is great to see the progress being made by National Highways and Kier. This new road will reduce congestion and speed up journey times. “However, it is not the end of the works needed, in my view, and further sections of the A585 may need looking at in the years to come. With work on the Fleetwood to Poulton line, and this new road we are really opening up the North Fylde Coast to inward investment creating quality jobs and developing high level skills.”
National Highways’ delivery director Stewart Jones said: “We’re making good progress with this scheme and are motivated by the end goal of better safety, reduced congestion and impact on traffic, and the removal of a major bottleneck on the main road to Fleetwood. "Without these vital improvements it’s likely traffic and congestion would increase and accident numbers would rise. Jonathan Hornsby, project manager at Kier Highways, said: “We were delighted to welcome Mr Maynard, let him chat to one of our apprentices and provide a tour of the project. Everyone here is committed to ongoing collaboration with local people as we work together to deliver this important improvement.” The project, which has its own dedicated webpage, is part of National Highways’ wider work across the North West supporting the Government’s levelling up and Build Back Better agendas.
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