WORK is starting today on a long-awaited £2.5m bypass, which should boost business and create jobs in a North-East town.
Contractors laying a 1km road around the centre of Crook, County Durham, were due to start in September.
The scheme was delayed when negotiations over a land deal broke down. It has now been resolved and the stretch will be completed by the summer.
The route will go south from a new roundabout in West Road to Prospect Road, which is to be widened.
This will make access to industrial and commercial land easier, and will cut congestion in the town's market place, reducing traffic from 10,000 vehicles a day to 7,000.
It will also open 7.5 hectares of land on the Eclipse site for industry and new homes, and allow new estate streets at the bottom of West Road to be turned into cul-de-sacs.
There will be temporary traffic lights during the construction of the roundabout and an improved T-junction at New Road, at the south end of the scheme.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article