RESURFACING work on a road bypass will start later this month - six years ahead of schedule.

A £5m scheme to improve the surface on the A19 Thirsk bypass is due to start on Monday, February 14.

About 4km of road between the York Road interchange and South Kilvington will be resurfaced with low-noise, black-top surfacing. Road chiefs at first said it could be 2011 before the work started.

Nicholas Adshead, project manager for the Highways Agency, said: "We are now able to deliver early a substantial scheme to reduce the road surface noise to the most affected area of Thirsk."

The work is expected to take 16 weeks to complete.