A £34.5m bypass for one of the major routes into the Dales is set to open up to three months early.

The Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar bypass which will take the main A684 road around the town and out of the villages is now expected to be completed in August.

Originally the three mile long road was not due to be finished until October.

Now County councillors have been told the work is ahead of schedule, despite heavy rain earlier in the year which hampered some of the construction work.

Roundabouts at both ends of the road are in use and up to 60 per cent of the carriageway has been completed.

Highway bosses say around 14,000 vehicles use the road every day causing congestion particularly through Aiskew and at the corner of the market Place at Bridge Street and Sussex Street. They say the new route will cut traffic flow by up to half as well as improving links with the industrial estate at Leeming.

Bedale County councillor John Weighell said it will be a major benefit for the area.

“I think it will be a bonus for a big area, it is going to stop a lot of congestion. Most of the vehicles going east to west on the A684 were through traffic which wasn’t stopping.

“Now a lot of it won’t be coming into Bedale Market Place, or Aiskew or Leeming Bar, so I am sure it will make a huge difference in terms of caravans and heavy traffic.

“It will ultimately be of huge benefit to Bedale, it will make the Market Place a pleasant place to stop and shop.”

The work is being done by contractors Wills Bros, and has involved building three roundabouts, and two new rail bridges to take the A684 over the Wensleydale Railway.

Work started on site in March 2015, and one of the major boosts for local historians has been the discovery by archaeologists of the site of a third century Roman Villa.

The “high status” site has been designated a Scheduled Monument by Historic England because of its rarity and importance in northern England. Most Roman villas discovered have been in the south so the Bedale villa is an example of the importance of the area to the Romans.

Following excavation the site was recovered with a small area going under the new bypass, but there are plans to put up noticeboards explaining the background.