Four to bid for £30m Ayrshire roads scheme

Four contractors will pick up the tender paperwork next month for a £30m design, construct and maintain roads deal in Ayrshire.

The Scottish Executive has gone for Barr, Balfour Beatty, Mowlem and Morrison to work up bids for the Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston bypass project on the A78.

The quartet will have 18 weeks to price the scheme. The winner will emerge early in the new year for a start on site in spring 2003.

The job includes 5km of dual carriageway and 1.4km of single-lane highway.