THE long delayed £380m upgrade of the North's busiest road will not be affected by the disintegration of major contractor Carillion say Highways England.

Opening of the 12 mile section of the A1 from Leeming Bar to Barton, has already been dogged by delays. Started in April 2014 it was due to be finished in June 2017, but government department Highways England announced in the autumn it would not be open until the end of March.

After the collapse of contractor Carillion, there were fears it could be delayed even longer. No final date has so far been given for the opening, the road is due to be closed overnight several days this week as barriers and CCTV are removed.

But Highways England said in a statement following the announcement by Carillion it would not mean further delays. They added: “We have been monitoring the situation for some time and Carillion has kept us informed throughout. This has enabled us to develop contingency plans to ensure the continued safe delivery of any schemes that Carillion is involved in on behalf of Highways England.”

Large parts of the work have been completed including the southern end of the motorway from Leeming Bar, but there have been major delays at the northern end of the site.

Staff were on site yesterday around the Catterick, Brompton on Swale area where contractors have had major problems with water and stabilising the embankment to the south of the river Swale. Archaeological excavations around Catterick were also blamed for causing delays with important and rare finds said to have been revealed.

But there has been growing alarm over the continued delay and the apparent lack of staff. One regular road user complained on the Highways England website :"There has been a lack of progress and sustained resources on site. Your works are going to be over a year behind, showing massive incompetence, and your making no effort to claw back this time. The Department for Transport make a big issue of the millions of pounds a day a closure to major strategic network costs the country, and yet you, the government’s own company, appear to treat us with contempt when it comes to your own roadworks."

Highways England say the 12 mile section of road carries up to 69,000 vehicles per day, and was the only remaining section of non motorwayon the A1/M1 between London and Newcastle. For information on closures and delays go to www.highways.gov.uk/traffic-information.