New £26.5m Crewe link road opens

A new £26.5 million link road in Crewe has been officially opened.   

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin carried out the opening in a ceremony held by Cheshire East Council last month.

The project was completed by construction and infrastructure company Morgan Sindall.

The new dual-carriageway link road runs between the existing roundabout on the northern spur off the A500 Hough-Shavington bypass up to the A5020 Weston Gate roundabout.

The dual carriageway link passes under the Crewe-Derby railway line, which is on a low embankment. As part of the project, the Morgan Sindall team built a new bridge on the line of the existing track, with the road set in a cutting to provide the required headroom. The 2,000 tonne, 30-metre bridge deck and accompanying sill beams were built offline and moved into place on multi-axle transporters during a 54-hour Easter 2015 track possession.

Bill Gifford, managing director of transport at Morgan Sindall, said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the on-time and safe conclusion of this project which will provide traffic relief for Crewe and help to reduce congestion in the town.

“A key requirement for us on all our schemes is to be a considerate constructor and minimise the effect we have on the local community. This was achieved here with a redesign which incorporated all surplus construction materials into the works, avoiding the need for transport off-site and therefore reducing the impact on local traffic.”

Mr McLoughlin added: “This route will bring quicker, easier journeys around Crewe and shows our commitment to improving the UK’s transport infrastructure. Our investment will unlock Crewe’s ambitious plans to create jobs and play a key role in the Northern Powerhouse.”

The link road will be named David Whitby Way, commemorating the local man who was a co-driver of the Glasgow to London mail train that was hijacked in the Great Train Robbery in 1963.