Lincolnshire County Council is set to push forward with legal orders and land acquisitions for the North Hykeham Relief Road.
However, the £200m project is still awaiting guaranteed funding and may require a public inquiry.
The highway authority’s executive voted to progress with publishing the legal orders at its meeting on 2 July, following the granting of planning permission in May.
Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: ‘This is another huge milestone for the project that brings us one step closer to making the final piece of Lincoln’s ring road a reality.
‘The next step is to publish the legal orders and wait while the consultation process is underway. Once the consultation period’s ended, we’ll have a clearer idea of whether a public inquiry will be needed.’
He added: ‘There's an enormous amount of legal paperwork to get through with a road of this size before we can actually start building, but we’re doing all we can to move things along so we can start works late next year.
‘In the meantime, the team will also continue working on preparing a full business case for the DfT.’
The Large Local Major was the only new road project announced in the previous government’s National Infrastructure Strategy, published in November 2020.
At that time, it was set to cost £155m and the council was allocated £110m of central government funding.
This cost has now risen to an estimated £180m to £208m, although the council is eligible for an increased government contribution of 100% of its outline business case cost, up from 85%, under the Tories’ Network North plan.
Balfour Beatty will deliver the project, which comprises a new dual carriageway linking the A46 Pennells Roundabout to the newly constructed Lincoln Eastern Bypass, creating a complete ring road around Lincoln.
New roundabouts and new bridges would be constructed, including over the River Witham, with the road set to open by late 2028.
Sleaford major not mod(erate) repairs
Separately, the council has announced the start of works on a resurfacing scheme in Sleaford costing three quarters of a million pounds.
Cllr Davies said: ‘The main part of the works will see a half-mile stretch of the B1518 fully rebuilt from its foundations up. This will mean digging up all of the existing carriageway, which is starting to crack and crumble, and replacing it with over 2,600 tonnes of road-building material.’
According to a council report, the road has been assessed using techniques including Dynamic Cone Penetration tests for bearing capacity, surface coring and a deflectograph. The results placed it on the list of resurfacing priorities.
A total of 0.7km of the road will be resurfaced by planing out the existing surface and replacing it with hot rolled asphalt, supported by deeper construction incorporating a small area of geogrid where necessary.
Extensive kerb and drainage repairs will also be undertaken, along with some footway reconstruction, replacement of the Galley Hill Bridge handrails and complete refurbishment of the traffic signals at a junction.
