WORK is set to start ‘in the summer’ on resurfacing and improving a concrete road on the edge of Wellington, three years after Government funding was provided for it.
The Chelston A38 to M5 link road has not been fully resurfaced since the original concrete was laid when the motorway was built in 1974.
The road, nicknamed locally the ‘concrete carriageway’, should have been improved early last year but Somerset County Council postponed the project at the last moment.
Now, the council has confirmed it will finally go ahead in the summer but has not yet given a firm date on which the work should begin.
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The work from Chelston roundabout to junction 26 of the motorway will involve structural repairs and drainage improvements.
It is likely to take 12 months to be completed and should also see enhancements to the motorway junction roundabout, where kerbing has been damaged or missing for several years.
The Department for Transport gave £4.736 million for the project in 2020 and the county council topped up with a further £1 million.
International infrastructure construction group Balfour Beatty has been contracted to carry out the work for the council.
The road’s existing surface of concrete slabs, many of which are cracked, will be recycled during the construction, project to reduce the need for new material.