One of Liverpool's key highways schemes is to enter its final phase.

County Road, which forms part of the historic A59, is a major gateway into the city centre from the north of Liverpool, passing Everton FC’s Goodison Park, before linking up to Aintree Racecourse and on to the motorway system.

The road, situated in the heart of Walton, was undergoing a £5.9 million revamp until the original contractor – Viam, formerly Kings Construction, went into administration last summer just months before completing the scheme.

After a tendering process, Liverpool City Council appointed a new contractor, Huyton Asphalt, in late October to finish the scheme as well as the resurfacing of nearby Walton Lane.

After the city's annual Christmas embargo on roadworks Huyton Asphalt undertook a comprehensive check of works to date, at which an issue on the varying depths of the road required an urgent design review and further delayed the restart.

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To reduce delays for road users, contractors were asked to restart works on Walton Lane, which takes traffic to Queens Drive, two weeks ago.

The council's Highways and Transportation team have now concluded the urgent design review of County Road, with roadworks set to begin on Monday, 28 February.

A phased programme of works – running from Spellow Lane to Hale Road junctions – will require lane closures during the day and a full road closure from 7pm each night until 6am, on a Monday to Friday basis.

The resurfacing on Walton Lane will now be suspended, to allow for the works on County Road which are scheduled to be completed by the end of April.

Once the County Road works have finished, contractors will be redeployed back to Walton Lane with that scheme expected to end by the start of June.

A 20mph speed limit will be in force on both County Road and Walton Lane until the schemes complete.

The County Road scheme, which included three upgraded crossings, a new toucan crossing and two new pedestrian crossings, bus priority at two major junctions and 2km of road resurfacing.is a key element of a wider programme to upgrade the city’s highways network over the coming decade.

It has received £3.5m from the Local Growth Fund (LGF) via the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF).

Local Growth Funding is awarded to the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and invested through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority through its Strategic Investment Fund.