Plans for a major A303 upgrade past Stonehenge have been given the go-ahead.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has given the formal green light by granting a Development Consent Order for work to start on the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down scheme.

The transformational and sensitive upgrade will tackle congestion on the notorious, traffic-clogged single carriageway section of the A303 route, and the announcement is a significant step towards unlocking economic growth and improving journey times and reliability between the M3 and M5.

For Highways England, the announcement follows this year's completion of the major A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon upgrade – eight months ahead of schedule – and the unveiling of a preferred route for the £1 billion A66 Trans-Pennine upgrade.

Highways England Chief Executive Jim O'Sullivan said: "The A303 Stonehenge tunnel project is part of the biggest investment in our road network for a generation and we welcome the Secretary of State’s decision. This transformational scheme will return the Stonehenge landscape towards its original setting and will improve journey times for everyone who travels to and from the south west."

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The £1.7 billion A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down upgrade includes:

• eight miles of free-flowing, high-quality dual carriageway

• a tunnel at least two miles long underneath the World Heritage Site, closely following the existing A303 route, but a further 50 metres away from the Stonehenge monument, avoiding important archaeological sites, and avoiding intrusion on the view of the setting sun from the stones during the winter solstice

• a new bypass to the north of the village of Winterbourne Stoke

• junctions with the A345 and A360 either side of the World Heritage Site.

Derek Parody, Highways England Project Director for the A303 Stonehenge scheme, added: "It is a scheme objective to conserve and enhance the World Heritage Site and this is being achieved through close collaborative working with heritage groups, including English Heritage, National Trust, Historic England and the independent A303 Scientific Committee.

"The scheme will not only sustain the Outstanding Universal Value of the WHS, it will also have a beneficial effect, and extensive archaeological studies and assessments have been undertaken to provide evidence of the benefits that the scheme will deliver for the World Heritage Site.

"The decision represents a major milestone, not only for us as the project team but for all those who have supported this project over a number of years; our stakeholders, the heritage bodies, local and regional businesses and indeed local communities."