A46 not finished, says MP

The Highways Agency should never have declared the A46 dualling finished, says the MP for Newark, Mr Patrick Mercer, and any payment for early completion should be withheld until it is.

Mr Mercer has written to the Treasury asking for clarification on whether a £40m early finish bonus has been claimed for the Newark to Widmerpool dualling.

The road was officially opened on June 15 but has since been dogged by lane closures, while a public inquiry over access arrangements to haulage company PA Freight continues.

The dualling took three years and cost an estimated £362m.

The scheme was completed on time and under budget by about £40m which, the Highways Agency told the Advertiser in June, would be split as a contractual payout between the Highways Agency and contractor Balfour Beatty.

Mr Mercer said they had no right to claim the money while the lane closures continued, and the planning inspector in the PA Freight case could order the Farndon roundabout back to the drawing board.

PA Freight is still using its existing access from the roundabout while it argues that a partially-completed new road from the roundabout is inadequate.

The scheme has yet to be signed off by the Environment Agency and the drainage scheme approved by the Internal Drainage Board.

There has this week been a southbound lane closure between Bingham Railway Bridge and Stragglethorpe Lane.

Lane restrictions on the Margidunum roundabout at Bingham and Widmerpool junction for signage, kerbing and drainage works, as well as traffic lights for the removal of old road signs at the A6097 junction and some 40mph speed restrictions also applied this week.

There were four overnight closures last month to install traffic-counting loops, plus other lane closures to allow the repair of verges damaged by vehicles before they had time to harden, and to the central barrier.

There was another closure after gypsum reacted with the road surface causing it to buckle at Margidunum and the road had to be resurfaced.

“It has been declared finished before time,” Mr Mercer said.

“The A46 is constantly heavily coned-off as the finish is imperfect and work is still to be done or to correct design faults.

“I understand there will be snags, but this isn’t snagging.

“The danger of offering cash bonuses means the reality is that perfection is sacrificed in the race for the cash.”

The Highways Agency position is different to that of June.

A spokesman said: “There is no ‘share of saving’ arrangement based purely on the early completion of the A46 scheme, and no such payment has been made to date. Until all the work is finished, we cannot confirm the final cost of the scheme, nor any shared saving.

“Most of the construction work was completed in June this year and drivers have been benefiting from the A46 improvements.

“There is, however, still ongoing minor work to complete the scheme that requires lane closures to ensure the safety of road users as well as workers.

“If the scheme is under budget once work is completed, the Highways Agency and its contractor would share any savings, and any shared benefit to the Highways Agency is good news for taxpayers.”