Norfolk Chamber was pleased to learn that contractors have been appointed by Highways England to deliver the design and planning phase of the A14 upgrade. Although not based in the county this is an important route for many Norfolk businesses.
The target date for the main construction work to start is late 2016. The new bypass and widened A14 would open to traffic in 2020.
Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said: “We welcome the commitment of up to £50 million from the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP to the upgrade of the A14 and the news that this project is moving forward”.
Work will now start to design and plan construction of the up to £1.5 billion A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon project. The contracts have been awarded under Highways England’s Collaborative Delivery Framework (CDF).
Due to the size of the project, it has been broken down into development (detailed design and pre-construction) and delivery phases, with construction of the proposed scheme split into four packages of work.
The detailed design contract has been awarded to Atkins CH2M joint venture at a total cost of £35.3m. The initial award is for the development phase at a value of £19.6m.Once the scheme is given the go ahead the joint venture will provide design support and site assurance services throughout the scheme to a value of £15.7m.
Costain Skanska joint venture have been awarded construction package one, covering A1 at Alconbury to the East Coast Mainline; and package two, covering east of the East Coast Mainline to Swavesey. The value of the pre-construction phase is £1m. Once the scheme is given the go ahead, the joint venture will deliver £598m of construction work.
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th construction contracts are still waiting to be awarded and tendered.
To find out more about the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, visit the Highways England website:www.highways.gov.uk/a14cambridgetohuntingdon
