Kier Highways been awarded the £150m contract to deliver the A585 Windy Harbour to Skippool scheme, which will improve the safety of pedestrians, equestrians and cyclists
The project is being delivered through Highways England’s six-year £8.7bn Regional Delivery Partnership (RDP) framework, which Kier was appointed to in November 2018. This Skippool scheme will reduce congestion and supporting the economic growth potential in Wyre and Fylde.
The scheme will see the construction of a new three-mile dual carriageway bypass to alleviate the heavily congested A585 between Windy Harbour and Skippool.
The works will commence in spring 2020 and are due to be completed in summer 2023.
Archaeological excavations
Oxford Archaeology was carrying out advance archaeological excavations on site when it unearthed perfectly-preserved prehistoric vegetation and stone tools. The artefacts found included a 6,000-year-old elm tree leaf, as well as tools including worked flint and chert blades which either belonged to Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (pre-3800 BC) or Neolithic first farmers (post-3800 BC).
Joe Incutti, Kier acting group managing director for Highways, said: “This is an important project for our client Highways England, and I am delighted that we are working with them to successfully deliver this strategic scheme.
“We are currently engaging with the local supply chain to utilise existing capability, in parallel with working to enhance skills across the region.”
Experience
Kier Highways manages 30,000km of the UK’s strategic and local authority road network, currently working with a wide range of local authorities in the country. It delivers highway services to 4.2m people and its routine reactive maintenance includes emptying gullies, surface treatment and repairing potholes.
Kier Highways recently won a contract with Birmingham Highways Ltd (BHL), which includes Birmingham’s traffic operations, planned and reactive maintenance, inspections and winter services.
