Lib Dems welcome news on the 'missing link'

The Liberal Democrats have welcomed the decision by Highways England to announce its preferred route for the A417 'Missing Link' road.

The agency will develop plans known as route option 30 as they push forward with plans to improve the journey for thousands of road users.

The £500 million scheme is a new route which include two new junctions and three lanes of carriageway going up Crickley Hill and two lanes coming down.

The A417 runs between Gloucester, Cirencester and Swindon and bottlenecks along a stretch of single-carriageway through Birdlip.

The road is used by more than 34,000 vehicles a day and is known for having long journey delays.

There has been a number of fatal crashes where the road becomes a single carriageway from the Air Balloon roundabout, through Birdlip and Nettleton Bottom, to the Cowley roundabout.

The accidents, and congestion, has led to repeated calls from campaigners for a bypass to be built.

Councillor Jeremy Hilton, leader of Gloucester Liberal Democrats, said: "I'm pleased the Chancellor of the Exchequer has given the financial go ahead.

"It would be a vital improvement to the road link between Gloucester and the South East of England, particularly London.

"This section of the road is known as the 'missing link' and is dangerous, congested and polluted.

"The section needs to be upgraded to a dual carriageway and once built it should shorten travel times and make the route much safer for road users than today."