£18M Liverpool Road Scheme Awarded to Osborne

Liverpool City Council have appointed Osborne to create a new dual carriageway on a major route into Liverpool city centre.
Osborne won the tender, worth £18m, to widen the A565 (Great Howard Street/Derby Road) with work set to begin in April.

Upgrading the route, which handles traffic between Sefton and Liverpool along the northern docks, also forms part of a major regeneration drive.

The new 2.7km long stretch in the city’s Atlantic corridor is seen as crucial to a new creative village in the area – called Ten Streets – with the council set to announce a vision for the scheme this Thursday, 2 February.

The new dual carriageway will also pave the way for a major revamp of the historic Regent Road – aka “the Dock Road” – to make that more pedestrian and cycle friendly.

Lane restrictions rather than a road closure will be deployed to minimise disruption on the A565, which is also currently having a new £10m bridge created that will enable freight to travel to and from the new £400m Liverpool2 deep water container terminal.

The scheme, which includes improved paving, traffic signals and street lighting, will complete as follows:

·         Phase 1 – between King Edward Street and Blackstone Street – new dual carriageway section
·         Phase 2 – between Bankhall Street to Millers Bridge – new dual carriageway section
·         Phase 3 – Improvements to Regent Road – new cycle and pedestrian facilities

Expected to finish by Spring 2019, the works are part of Liverpool City Council’s wider £250m Better Roads programme to improve the city’s road infrastructure and will be complemented by the creation of a new £20m waterfront link road at the city centre end of the A565.

John Dowsett, Managing Director for Infrastructure at Osborne said: ‘’This award is highly significant in our business strategy as we continue to target opportunities with forward thinking Local Authorities who recognise the importance and value of a collaborative approach with their partners and suppliers. This project presents another excellent opportunity to support our public authority customers in the on-going challenge of delivering increasing highway capacity within reducing capital and operational budgets. Working with Liverpool City Council further enhances our growing geographical presence and expansion into the North West.’’

Cllr John Fairclough, Sefton Council’s cabinet member locality services, added: “This is just the start of a very exciting project which will enhance the main route into Liverpool from south Sefton.

“This stretch of road is extremely busy and by making it all dual carriageway, it will enable greater access in and out of Sefton for all vehicles.”