National Highways said it will begin putting plans in place for the start of main construction on the delayed A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements after a legal challenge to the scheme came to an end.
Last Thursday (18 May), the Court of Appeal refused an application by Transport Action Network to appeal the refusal of permission for a judicial review of the transport secretary’s decision to grant the scheme a Development Consent Order.
Project director Lee Galloway said: ‘This is a major milestone for the project and moves us a step closer to starting construction on the much needed and wanted A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements.
‘We’ll now start putting plans in motion that will see the start of main construction on the project begin by the end of the year, subject to governance approvals.’
National Highways said it will continue with preparatory works ahead of the beginning of full construction including archaeology, environmental surveys and diverting utilities.
The £1bn scheme will see the creation of a new 10-mile dual carriageway linking the A1 Black Cat roundabout in Bedfordshire to the A428 Caxton Gibbet roundabout on the A428 in Cambridgeshire.
Both existing roundabouts will be upgraded into modern, free-flowing junctions with a new junction added at Cambridge Road, improving access to St Neots and its train station.
Launching its legal challenge last autumn, TAN said that figures submitted by National Highways in relation to the DCO revealed that the total additional carbon emissions from construction and extra traffic totalled over 3.5 million tonnes, which makes it the third largest emitting of the 50 schemes in the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS 2).
A report last year from the Office of Rail and Road revealed that the scheme was one of two that had their start of works targets deferred and should be classified as ‘missed commitments’.
National Highways said the scheme is now expected to open to traffic in 2027.
