RESIDENTS and businesses have been invited to take part in a seven week consultation about a £62m project to improve the A19 Testos junction.

Consultation begins tomorrow (Monday, October 13) and will continue until November 28.

The proposed improvements will see the A19 carriageway raised above ground level on an embankment and carrying it over the existing roundabout via two bridges, while also constructing two new connector roads.

Highways Agency staff in charge of delivering the scheme will be on hand to answer questions at two events planned for the Quality Inn at Boldon on Friday, November 7, between noon and 8pm, and Saturday, November 8, between 10am and 4pm.

Following the exhibitions the displays will move to the Nissan plant in Sunderland where they will be displayed for two weeks to allow the thousands of employees to view the plans.

Some 30,000 households will also receive questionnaires seeking their views.

Highways Agency project manager Adam Clelland said: "We are confident that the preferred route, announced by the Secretary of State for Transport in June, is the best suited to proceed. This consultation is another opportunity for those most directly affected to ask any questions they have, view the plans and offer their support."

The consultation will help design the preferred route in more detail and identify the land that will need to be acquired to construct the scheme. This will look at pedestrian, cyclist and equestrian access, drainage requirements, and reducing the impact on the environment.

Subject to approval by the Planning Inspectorate, and the availability of funding, construction work on the scheme could start by 2017.

For more information call the Highways Agency Information Line on 0300-123-5000.