National Highways has announced that construction of a new viaduct over the River Great Ouse in Bedfordshire is set to commence.

The work is part of plans to realign and extend the A428, external between the Black Cat roundabout near Sandy and the Caxton Gibbet roundabout in Cambridgeshire. The agency said it would be working closely with environmental organisations to protect the local eco-system.

National Highways added that drivers would get to use the viaduct once the new dual carriageway opens to traffic in spring 2027.

Formal planning permission for the link, providing a new southern bypass for St Neots, was approved by the-then secretary of state for transport in August 2022.

Conservative Bedford Mayor Tom Wootton somewhat optimistically said that the new road would make Bedford “the centre of the universe”.

(Pic – National Highways)