'We had to move a river to build new £134m bypass'

Highways officials have said they are excited as they prepare to open Melton Mowbray's new £134m bypass.

Leicestershire County Council said it hoped the 4.4-mile (7.1km) route around the north and east of the town would open to vehicles in about three months, following three years of construction.

The project has involved building six new roundabouts, four bridges and diverting a river about 100 metres (328ft) from its course.

"Yes, we moved the River Eye, and that might surprise people," said the authority's assistant director of highways and transport, Janna Walker.

"It might not seem the obvious choice but we needed to build a bridge over the river and that was close to some very high voltage cables.

"We had to raise the bridge structure up and that would mean working too close to the power cables.

"Moving those power cables would not only be extremely expensive but also involve disruption to power for people in Melton - and we didn't want to be that unpopular.

"Moving the river was actually the easiest option."

"One of the biggest problems we have had recently is the weather," Walker added.

"We are so close and we are really excited, but it feels like it has rained every day this year.

"We are getting there but it does slow us down. We have about 12 weeks' work programmed but we do need it to be dry."

Engineers also had to construct a bridge, with a span of 50m, to take the road over a passenger and freight railway line.

The final cost of the scheme is expected to be about £134m - nearly twice the original budget of £63.5m.

It has been jointly funded by the council, the government, and developers who plan to build 4,500 homes in the area in the long-term.

"There are several phases in building a big road like this," Walker said.

"We built a budget based on the information we had and that original budget was set 10 years ago.

"A lot has happened since then in terms of the market and inflation.

"We've had steel and other materials go up in price and we have had significant weather events to deal with."

Walker said the value of the scheme would be shown in the centre of Melton Mowbray, which was currently heavily congested with traffic.

"A lot of that traffic will be able to route through here so in the short-term there will be reduced congestion," she added.

"I think people will see a big difference [when it opens]."

Walker said long-term plans still remained for an extra section of the road to continue around the south of the town, although she said there was no defined timescale for that phase of the project.

As it stands, that southern extension to the road would be funded by contributions from housing developers and would be built when new homes are delivered.

The new road is officially called the Melton Mowbray Distributor Road (MMDR), but the council plans to hold a public vote on the road's official name in February.

Residents will be able to choose from a shortlist of options.

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