King's Dyke level crossing bridge to open by end of next year

The structure of the bridge over the railway has been completed

A £32m bridge which will lead to the closure of a level crossing should open by the end of next year, a councillor has said.

Work began on the King's Dyke bridge on the A605 at Whittlesey near Peterborough in July 2020, 20 years after the scheme was first approved.

Costs spiralled to £39m but Cambridgeshire County Council appointed new contractors on a revised scheme.

It aims to cut road delays from the crossing gates closing 200 times a day.

The bridge spans the railway line linking Peterborough with Whittlesey and onwards to Ely

More work needs to be done including building an access road

Currently, motorists can wait between 12 and 23 minutes at the crossing.

The road connects Peterborough and Whittlesey over the Peterborough-Ely railway line.

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Peter McDonald, chair of the council's highways and transport committee, said there was still "significant work to do in terms of the top of the bridge" and the access site and road also needed completing.

He added the scheme remained "pretty much" on budget and "fingers crossed" it should be open by no later than the end of 2022.