St Neots A421 road upgrade: National Highways hosts events

National Highways says the work, including to the Black Cat roundabout, will help tackle one of the region's most notorious congestion areas

National Highways will host a series of public information events ahead of construction on a 10-mile dual carriageway.

New junctions and a new road will link the A1 Black Cat roundabout in Bedfordshire and the A428 Caxton Gibbet roundabout in Cambridgeshire.

Engineers are due to begin the upgrades before the end of the year.

National Highways said the scheme would improve journey times between Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

The scheme provides a new bypass south of the existing St Neots bypass, but the new one would also be south of Little Barford and Wyboston, before crossing the existing A428 west of Croxton.

The A428 would become a local road and the new stretch will become part of the A421, whose eastern end currently stops at the Black Cat roundabout.

"This scheme is going to transform journeys," said project director Lee Galloway.

"We want to put local communities at the heart of the project as we move through our construction journey."

Residents can meet the project managers at a mobile visitor centre at:

• Morrisons car park, Broad Street, Great Cambourne, Cambourne, Cambridge, CB23 6EY - Wednesday, 23 November 13:00-19:00 GMT

• St Neots Farm & Craft Market, Market Square, St Neots, Cambridgeshire, PE19 2AJ - Saturday, 26 November 08:00-13:00

• Market Place, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, SG18 8AS - Friday, 2 December 10:00-16:00

• Bedford Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, MK40 1SL - Wednesday, 7 December 10:00-16:00

National Highways said people could also register online for a 90-minute webinar at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday, 30 November, via Microsoft Teams.

The project was granted planning permission in August by then Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps.

The proposed route follows a public consultation in 2017

The project is estimated to cost up to £950m.

The environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth previously suggested the project was unnecessary.