HIGHWAYS Agency bosses have said the £380m scheme to upgrade 12 miles of the A1 between Leeming and Barton in North Yorkshire will be built in three stages to best deal with the various challenges contractors will face.

At a public exhibition at Catterick Racecourse today (Friday, March 21), the Highways Agency displayed its most up to date plans.

The area to be improved has been split into northern, central and southern sections, with the central section proving the most challenging due to having to navigate around housing and archaeological sites.

Sandie Forte-Gill, Highways Agency senior project manager, said work was already starting to prepare for traffic management due to start from April 3.

She said the project would be split into three sections for strategic reasons and to ensure work is visible to the public.

“We do get feedback that the speed restriction signs are up but it doesn’t seem as though work is being done so we want to make sure we are seen to be moving forward,” she said.

The Agency is also awaiting approval of an amendment to the planned access roads in the Tunstall area following consultation with residents.

David Lowry, project director for joint contractor Carillion Morgan Sindall, said the project was exciting because it would create hundreds of jobs in the area, as the firm planned to recruit as many of the 750 construction workers from the region as possible.

The exhibition continies tomorrow (Saturday, March 22) at Catterick Racecourse from 10am until 4pm.