Crucial work to improve the busy A6 Harborough bypass has been completed

Crucial work to improve the busy A6 Market Harborough bypass for thousands of motorists has been completed.

The extensive scheme to resurface and strengthen the important road circling the town was launched by Leicestershire County Council in December.

The major blueprint has now been finished as the council has been using recycled and carbon-friendly products improving its highways throughout the county.

“Work at Harborough is now finished and Blaby is nearing completion. The projects included resurfacing and strengthening parts of the road and ‘green’ materials and carbon-friendly techniques were used where possible,” said the county council.

“Warm mix and lower energy materials were used to lay the courses of asphalt, instead of the traditional hot materials, saving around 22 tonnes of carbon.”

The A6 Market Harborough project and other work has been bankrolled by £5 million from the Department of Transport’s new ‘challenge fund’ set up amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

“It is not just the new products which are helping to cut emissions. All of the bituminous material removed from the carriageway construction is to be recycled elsewhere,” added the council.

“The base asphalt being used contains 25 per cent recycled asphalt and the surface layer 10 per cent.”

Along with two other schemes, the A6 initiative will generate over 21,000 tonnes of carriageway material available for recycling.

And the new materials used on the popular route will incorporate about 3,700 tonnes of recycled material.

Cllr Trevor Pendleton, the council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Using recycled and carbon-friendly components for our road improvements emphasises our commitment to improving the environment.

“Work on both the Blaby and Harborough bypasses is already almost completed with minimal disruption to motorists.

“I am delighted to see the environmentally-friendly innovations used in this project.”