Carlisle Northern Development Route

Carlisle is set to get a brand new road. Cumbria County Council has recently been given permission by the Government to go ahead with the Carlisle Northern Development Route.

The new road, or CNDR as it is often called, will be just over five miles (8.25 km) long. It will pass by the west of the city from the A595 near Newby West to junction 44 of the M6 near Kingmoor Park.

Now that the Government has accepted the case for the new road, we can invite bids from private sector companies to undertake the work. In addition to building and maintaining this new road, we have also included within the contract the management and maintenance of 92 miles (148 km) of the surrounding road network. We hope to name the preferred bidder and award the contract in 2008.

The estimated cost of the proposed 30-year contract is £150 million. The majority of this will be provided by the Department for Transport using the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The remainder will be funded by Cumbria County Council.

If everything goes according to plan, work on the new road, which will take around two years, will begin towards the end of 2008 and finish in 2010.

The whole project has been examined and approved at a public inquiry. Planning permission has already been granted following the submission of scheme details with environmental, flooding and archaeological assessments. Residents have been kept informed by the local media and people and businesses who could be directly affected by the construction work or by the new road itself have been contacted directly by the county council. We will continue to keep all affected parties informed.

What are the benefits?

The county council has been preparing this scheme for some years and it is one of its top priorities due to the numerous benefits it brings. The Carlisle Northern Development Route will:

• Ease congestion and improve journey times in Carlisle by taking commercial and other through-traffic out of the city;
  
• Improve the economy and employment prospects in the area by helping attract up to 5,500 new jobs, particularly at the Kingmoor Park business site;
  
• Improve transport links between West Cumbria, Scotland and the North East by connecting the M6/A69/A74/A595 without sending traffic through Carlisle.               

What about the route?

Building the CNDR will involve constructing three bridges, including a totally new crossing over the river Eden - the original design for the new bridge and the surrounding area had to be amended following the Carlisle floods of January 2005.

The route will also have cycle ways along its entire length.

Cumbria County Council has worked with a wide range of organisations, including Natural England, English Heritage and the Environment Agency to get the plans right and everything possible has been done to safeguard the environment and wildlife in the area, including otters in the River Eden.

For further information call the Highways Hotline on 0845 609 6609 or email us at contact@cumbriahighways.org.uk.