Galliford Try has confirmed that its Highways business has begun work on an £85m contract to upgrade the M56 near Manchester Airport.

The scheme, being constructed on behalf of Highways England, will see the stretch between junctions 6-8 of the motorway upgraded, with the current hard shoulder becoming a permanent traffic lane.

The Highways team has previously been responsible for motorway upgrades on two stretches of the M1 in joint venture, but the M56 contract represents the first project of this type that Galliford Try has undertaken on its own. The main construction phase will get underway in November, having been previously rescheduled to avoid clashing with works on the M61.

Bill Hocking, Chief Executive of Galliford Try, said: “It is fantastic to be able to get underway with this major new project for our business. We have a close working relationship with Highways England, one of our key clients, and being part of this motorways programme demonstrates how highly our team is rated in this sector.”

Meghan Archer-Downing, Highways England’s Delivery Director for the project, said: “We are delighted to be working with Galliford Try on this important project which is an important part of our programme to add capacity to the existing strategic road network, supporting economic growth and maintain mobility.

“Thanks to the work the team have done planning how best to build the improvements, we expect to complete it by March 2022 and the average journey time for our customers will only increase by a maximum of two minutes during our roadworks.”