VolkerFitzpatrick has won a contract to build a new £35 million road bypass project in Cambridgeshire.

The company will begin developing the Ely Southern Bypass at the beginning of 2017.

The structure is a proposed new road connecting the A142 at Angel Drove to Stuntney Causeway. It includes a 1.7km long single carriageway route, featuring a viaduct crossing the Great Ouse and bridges over two railway lines.

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In addition, a walkway linking the Fen Rivers Way and Ouse Valley Way footpaths together will be attached to the bridge. Work is now underway on detailed designs for the scheme.

Chris Evans, Managing Director of VolkerFitzpatrick's civil engineering division, said: "This is an exciting project to be working on, which we hope will be highly effective in relieving some of the congestion that people experience in Ely. It should also increase people's access to the local countryside as well as speeding up journey times for commuting traffic."

Bob Menzies, the council's Service Director for Strategy and Development, added: "The new bypass will boost transport links for local people as well as easing congestion. In particular it will dramatically reduce the congestion around Ely Railway station and the low underpass."

(LM/JP)