First section of Urban and Civic’s Newark Southern Link Road open, from A1 Welcome Break services at Fernwood to Bowbridge Lane

The first section of the new Southern Link Road has opened to traffic following months of extensive roadworks.

Once fully complete the £100m link road project will connect the A1 to the A46 south of Newark via a 5km stretch of road and serve new housing being built as part of the Middlebeck development.

The section of the link road furthest east, which connects with the A1 via a new roundabout at Fernwood, opposite the Welcome Break services, has now opened to traffic.

Vehicles will now be able to travel from Fernwood to Bowbridge Lane along the new stretch of road — formerly part of Staple Lane — via another new roundabout which connects to an existing section of link road built back in 2017.

Approximately 1.15km of new and improved highway has been laid, alongside the installation of two pedestrian crossings, 350 metres of new footpaths and 4km of new sewers and drainage ditches.

The project, led by Urban and Civic, is said to be on schedule, with the Staple Lane section completed in the final quarter of this year as planned.

The next section scheduled for completion will be from Bowbridge Lane to Hawton Road in early 2025. At the same time Hawton Road — which partially reopened to traffic earlier this year — will fully reopen without restrictions in place.

Earthworks for the rest of the site are also now nearing an end, with completion of the final piece in the project planned for 2026, which will see the link road connected to the A46 via a new roundabout near Farndon.