The bill for Spalding’s proposed relief road is expected to be £100million.
The Western Relief Road will run between Spalding Common and Spalding Road in Pinchbeck, bisecting Horseshoe Road and Bourne Road.
It is designed to alleviate town centre traffic congestion.
The cost of the road includes the construction of three bridges – two crossing the railway line and another over Vernatt’s Drain.
The £100m bill for the two-phase road was revealed to South Holland District Council’s cabinet members last week. It compares with the £80m cost of the much longer A16 Spalding-Peterborough bypass.
Phase one – linked with the first part of a massive enlargement of the Holland Park development – is expected to open in 2016/17.
District council planning manager Paul Jackson outlined to the cabinet meeting the necessity and funding for the road.
He said: “The main drivers presently centre on the need to deliver substantial housing growth to Spalding in tandem with achieving a long-term and realistic solution to mitigate the impact of additional mainline train services running through the town.”
He added: “As this critical piece of infrastructure is central to the delivery of anticipated growth in Spalding up to 2031, funding is equally critical.
“The estimated cost of the works associated with phases one and two to the SWRR is in the region of £96m, so say £100m.”
Lincolnshire County Council has agreed to front-fund phase one of the project, but will be substantially reimbursed by Broadgate Homes.
Full planning permission was recently granted to the Weston Hills developer for 312 of the 2,250 scheduled homes and work on this initial batch is due to start around the end of the year.
Broadgate Homes is shortly having a primary street built from The Broadway roundabout through the development area towards The Raceground.
Broadgate chief executive Ian Canham said on Friday: “Tenders for the first phase of road construction are going out in the next seven days and we expect the construction work to begin either just before Christmas or early in the new year.”
Jonathan Wickham, senior project leader at Lincolnshire County Council, told The Voice: “Phase one of the Spalding western relief road will be constructed as part of the Holland Park development, and we have worked with the developer to ensure any designs for the route, including the bridge over the railway, will be suitable for future use as a relief road.
“Discussions about funding the route and timescales for delivery are continuing. The route has outline planning consent and, in the near future, we expect the developer to submit a detailed reserved matters application to gain full planning approval.”
Mr Jackson ended his update to cabinet by saying: “For the present, it is fair to say that this is probably the planning service’s key priority in Spalding and one which it will continue to work on with county to deliver.”
The route for phase two of the road is yet to be finalised but is expected to meet Spalding Road near Enterprise Way.
