Design work starts on Inverness West Link Road project
posted by Roy Sinclair - 4 Oct 2012, 3:13 p.m.
Extracted from Press Release by Highland Council
Design work starts on Inverness West Link Road project (04/10/12)
The Highland Council has appointed Capita Symonds to assist the Council's
Project Design Unit in providing detailed design civil engineering and
supporting services for the new £27.2 million Inverness West Link Road.
The new road - situated at the western boundary of Inverness city -
will link the Southern Distributor Road at Dores Road with the A82 Trunk Road
at Torvean and will also include a new crossing of the River Ness and the
Caledonian Canal.
Coupled with this the outcomes of the recent Charrette and land use strategy
will be integrated with the revised road network in this area. The new road
will include allowances for enhancing the recreational facilities and
providing improved cycling and walking infrastructure within the design area.
The detailed design work will include the preparation of the drawings and
details and the specifications for each construction element of the project in
readiness for the Council to prepare tender documents. The detailed design
work will produce an earthworks and construction footprint and include the
necessary information to allow the Highland Council to obtain all statutory
consents for the work. This will include traffic orders, land acquisition and
CPO plans as well as an environmental statement and the detailed plans for a
planning application.
The commission for this stage of the project which includes soils
investigation and environmental surveys will take around 12 months and will
allow the Council to move forward with publication of Orders and submission of
a planning application. When all consents are in place it is intended to
subdivide the construction of the project into 2 phases. The first phase will
cross the river Ness and link the Dores Road Roundabout with the A82 Trunk
Road and the second phase will provide for the tandem crossing of the
Caledonian Canal at Torvean.
Councillor Graham Phillips, Chairman of the Council's Transport
Environmental and Community Services Committee, said: "This is a
significant piece of work, which will help move the project forward and I am
pleased that the detailed design work has now started in earnest. It is
important that we maintain our momentum on this key project and deliver a new
link road that will free up the traffic pressure in the Inverness City centre
as well as providing the framework for an enhanced land use master plan for
the Torvean and Ness-side areas of Inverness."
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