Work building Eastern Link Road in Aylesbury starts on Monday 16th September 2019

Location for the Eastern Link Road junction with the A418, Aylesbury Road, Bierton. (Image supplied by Buckinghamshire County Council)

On Monday 16th September 2019 work will start on the construction of the Eastern Link Road in Aylesbury.

The preparations for creating a junction will start on the A418 just outside Bierton.

With a budget of around £5 million, the 1.3mile long northern section of the link road will be paid for and built by developers Barratt as part of its new Kingsbrook estate. It will connect Aylesbury Road, Bierton (A418) with a roundabout at the new Bellingham Way and is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2021.

The section, when completed, will allow traffic to and from Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes to reach Aylesbury’s inner ring road more directly via the Stocklake link roads.

The preparation work for the link road junction will be followed by main construction work which starts on Tuesday 1st October 2019. The work may mean narrowing the lanes on the A418 but is expected to have little or no effect on traffic.

From Monday 4th to Friday 22nd November 2019 off-peak traffic lights will control through traffic on the A418 between 9.30am and 3.30pm. The lights will operate again from Tuesday 7th January 2020 until Friday 27th March 2020.

The Eastern Link Road will form another section of Buckinghamshire County Council’s planned Orbital Route, a way to create more capacity for traffic as Aylesbury grows, linking the town’s main radial routes and drawing traffic away from the town centre.

Other ‘link roads’ forming the Orbital Route are being built progressively on the outskirts as housing and business development is planned. They are being funded from housing developers, along with money bid for from Government sources, such as its Local Growth Fund and Housing Infrastructure Fund.

Two of the link roads, the 1.8 mile long Martin Dalby Way and the half mile long Stocklake Urban. The 1.2 mile long Stocklake Rural (Bellingham Way) link is almost complete and the Eastern Link Road northern section is now under construction.

The 1.2m long southern section of the Eastern Link Road and a separate 1.6 mile long Southern link Road have target completion dates of late 2021. They are included in planning applications for housing and business estates at Woodlands and Hampden Fields which have resolution to grant planning permission subject to finalising legal agreements.

The proposed South West Aylesbury link road, running south parallel with the line of HS2 from the A418 Oxford Road, is subject to a live planning application. Plans for the South East Aylesbury link road, connecting Wendover Road with Lower Road, are currently being developed by the County Council for submission in the near future. HS2 are also proposing a Stoke Mandeville Relief Road as part of their mitigation.

Mark Shaw, Deputy Leader and Transport Cabinet Member, said: ‘Make no mistake, we’re on the move with investment in Buckinghamshire’s roads network, and Aylesbury’s Orbital route is a vital part of this. We’re committed to providing it.

I’d like to be able to build the Orbital in its entirety much more quickly.

But our pace of progress depends very much on developer contributions and obligations, and on central government funding for major infrastructure projects. There are two outstanding links that we continue to promote, and are currently marked as long-term.

I do understand the frustration expressed by residents and businesses at the pace of progress with infrastructure planning, but we are moving forward as quickly as the funding, planning, land acquisition and availability of contractors allow us.‘

*Source of article : Press release from Buckinghamshire County Council.