Work on a £10.3m road widening scheme in Keighley, West Yorkshire has been delayed after the re-routing of utilities proved more complex than expected.
The Hard Ings Road Improvement Scheme will widen 0.7km of the existing carriageway to provide two running lanes in each direction, between the junctions with the A629 (Beechcliffe roundabout, pictured) and Bradford Road roundabout in Keighley.
The scheme is funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority under its West Yorkshire plus Transport Fund and was forecast to be completed in April.
Bradford Council has not given a new completion date but said that it was working hard, along with contractor Howard Civil Engineering, to bring forward other elements of the scheme so that it can minimise any delays and ‘get the scheme completed’.
A council spokesperson, said: ‘The work on this major road improvement scheme has been progressing well so far with the completion of many elements.
‘There are significant on-going works at Hard Ings Road including the re-routing of public utilities, such as water, electric, BT and Virgin Media, to accommodate the road widening that are proving to be more complex than we had envisaged. This is due to the discovery of unrecorded pipes, cables and mains electricity supplies.’
‘This coupled with the uncovering of unexpected former road construction and concrete found during excavation works, has unfortunately caused delays to the project’s progress. We need to carry out all the works below ground for the site before we can progress with the road widening.’
A scheme newsletter published by Howard on 3 January stated that works for the two weeks from 6 January included ‘completion of the [Yorkshire Water] diversion works, Northern Powergrid commence their electricity cable diversion works [and] completion of works to Fibreline’.
The council spokesperson added: ‘We are continuing work on the A629 approach to the Beechcliffe roundabout. This includes widening the carriageway, realigning the kerbs and the central reservation, as well as installing equipment for the new traffic lights including pedestrian crossing facilities and upgraded street lighting, replacing the crash barriers and road signs.’
