The bridge over the planned Spalding Western Relief Road in Lincolnshire was constructed between 2022 and 2024 but it will not be finished until at least 2030 because the county council cannot afford to complete the project. The bridge was built as part of a £110 million project to provide a new route, the Western Relief Road, around the west side of Spalding to ease traffic on the A16, which sees lots of lorries driving between Peterborough, Boston and Grimsby.
The construction of the road was split into five sections and section five, which consists of 0.6 miles of road, a T-junction where the road will later be extended, and the bridge, was finished last year. The aim of the bridge was to carry the road over a busy railway which runs from Peterborough to Doncaster, but for now new aerial pictures show the route comes to an abrupt stop. Lincolnshire County Council aimed to secure the rest of the funding while this section was being built and raised £28 million – but in 2023 they announced they had re-allocated this to other roads and the project wouldn’t now be finished until at least 2030.
Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said in 2023: “The past three years have been a turbulent time within the highways sector, including costs increases due to Covid; growing inflation rates; and the country entering into the recession we’re currently in. Unfortunately, because of these and other issues, we announced during our annual budget meeting in February that we’ve had to re-allocate the £27.8 million of county council funding dedicated to the Spalding Western Relief Road's southern section to help offset increased costs for other major road projects. That means it’s unlikely that we start work before 2030 since that’s the earliest we expect to be able to allocate funding towards this phase of the project. However, we'll look at bringing that date closer if external funding can be identified.”
A Highways spokesperson for Lincolnshire County Council said today (Tues): “Construction of the north section of the Spalding Western Relief Road was completed in October 2024. In the approved 2025/26 council budget, there is currently £27.7 million earmarked towards building the southern section of the Spalding Western Relief Road in the future. However, the current estimated cost of building this section is between £50-60 million, which means external funding will be needed. That is why we are continuing to work closely with South Holland District Council to identify funding opportunities, including remaining in touch with Homes England. In addition, no funding has yet been allocated or secured for the middle sections of the relief road as these are intended to be built in the long-term, as outlined in the South East Lincolnshire Local Plan.”
The council said the northern section of the Spalding Western Relief Road had opened up land allocated for housing in the South East Lincolnshire Local Plan (an initial 1,100 dwellings). It also said the new SWRR roundabout on Enterprise Way had already unlocked land for housing on either side of the railway and a significant start had been made on-site, with these houses soon to be added to the available housing stock.
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