Cumberland Council's £225m Carlisle Southern Link Road will not fully open to traffic until spring this year due to ‘higher-than-average rainfall'.
Originally slated to open in summer of 2025, the 8km-long-road will connect Junction 42 of the M6 with the A595 to the west, but in a report to the Highways and Transport Strategic Board, the council stated that higher rainfall during ‘key phases of the earthworks and road surfacing' were the main reason that the road would open ‘a little later than originally programmed'.
Work on the route was first started by main contractor Galliford Try Infrastructure in June 2023, with parts of the link road already open to the public being treated as part of the adopted highway network, according to the council.
The completed route is set to include new junctions linking existing radial routes into Carlisle and the Garden Village, as well as bridges over two main railway lines and the Caldew and Petteril rivers, a network of footways and cycleways and ‘an extensive programme' of landscaping and environmental mitigation.
