Today on Highways Voices we visit the site of one of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects, and one with a very interesting back story.

The A417 Missing Link project in Gloucestershire has been covered quite often on Highways News, so now with construction work at a critical phase, Kevin Borras visited the project office in Birdlip to talk to National Highways, Kier Transportation and Prolectric about some of the unique and fascinating elements of the £460m road that, when it’s finished, will link Brockworth and Cowley via a new, three-mile long dual carriageway.

Aiming to reduce congestion and improve connectivity between the Midlands and the South, the project also includes the construction of a new junction and green bridges, with completion scheduled for spring 2027 – all with making as little environmental impact as possible a key priority. But why was it missing in the first place?

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We hear from National Highways’ A417 Missing Link Senior Project Manager Celine Acard, Kier Transportation’s Senior Project Manager Nick Williams and from Kathryn Adams, Product Manager for Prolectric, the company responsible for the project hitting its environmental targets, thanks to its use of renewable energy.

You’ll find out why the link was never built, how public engagement was used so smartly, how the unprecedented low carbon targets are being met, why the sustainability angle was deemed so important and how the needs and requirements of cows and bats were also part of the enormous equation.

Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.

(Picture – Kevin Borras)