Liverpool City Council is set to appoint a number of highways contractors to complete five schemes which had delayed, following the appointment of administrators for its original contractor VIAM.

After issuing a termination notice to VIAM, which went into administration on 1 June, the city council has gained permission to appoint Siemens to complete the traffic signals installation along County Road (A59).

It is anticipated Siemens will be on site this week. It is expected traffic signals installation will take a few weeks to complete, which will then be followed by resurfacing works.

The city council is also appointing Huyton Asphalt Ltd, via its planned works framework, to complete the upgrade to Kingsley Road in Toxteth. It is anticipated this contractor will be on site on Monday, 12 July.

For the remaining three schemes, the council is to advertise tenders on its procurement framework with the intention of appointing contractors within the next four weeks.

Following the collapse of VIAM, the city council moved swiftly to ensure the stalled schemes presented no health and safety risks to motorists and carried out assessments of what works were outstanding to inform the tendering process.

Councillor Daniel Barrington, Cabinet member for Climate Emergency, Transport and Environment, said: “The stalling of these highways schemes has presented numerous challenges to resolve and to get them back on track. We appreciate this has been a source of frustration for motorists, residents and local businesses and as a council we’ve moved as fast as possible to find a solution.

“The upgrades to the A59 and A565, in particular, are of huge consequence to our overall highways network as they carry tens of thousands of motorists every day and with the ending of lockdown next month, it’s imperative we minimise any disruption.

“I’m delighted that we’re now at the point of getting contactors back on site to complete these schemes.”