A428 upgrade: Final dual carriageway route published

Three option to make the Black Cat junction free-flowing have been proposed for consultation

Plans for a new 10-mile dual carriageway to complete the upgrade of the A428 have been published.

The new road will link the A1 Black Cat roundabout in Bedfordshire with Caxton Gibbet roundabout in Cambridgeshire.

Both roundabouts will be designed as free-flowing junctions and a new junction will be added at Cambridge Road near St Neots.

The only remaining section of single carriageway between Milton Keynes and Cambridge will be replaced.

Three route ideas and three options for improving the Black Cat roundabout have been proposed for public consultation before the final plans are submitted for planning consent early next year.

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Highways England A428 programme lead Lee Galloway said: "The current A428 carries twice the traffic it was designed for and cuts through small communities and villages.

"Our plans will make a real difference, improving people's journeys, reducing rat-running on local roads and better linking the two key economic hubs of Milton Keynes and Cambridge."

The agency's preferred option would see the existing stretch of the A428 between St Neots and the Caxton Gibbet retained as a local road.

The new road would go south of Little Barford before crossing the existing A428 to the west of Croxton.

Anyone who wants to take part in the consultation, which closes on 28 July, should visit the Highways England website.