Three on board for £80m Luton busway deal

Three rivals have climbed aboard for an £80m guided busway deal in Luton.

Working up bids for the project, officially known as the Luton-Dunstable busway contract, are BAM Nuttall, Carillion and Vinci.

Luton Borough Council, which has government funding for the scheme, is expected to name its preferred contractor towards the close of this year.

Work on site is scheduled to begin around the end of January or early February next year. The project is expected to take two years to complete.

The scheme comprises the design and construction of a mainly guided busway between Luton Airport and Houghton Regis, predominantly running along a disused railway corridor.

The busway will become unguided at Church Street and Kimpton Road in Luton where 2km of road reserved for buses will be constructed.

The guided aspect of the deal will feature around 7.5km of twin track.

The undertaking also calls for the reconstruction of eight bridges and building five new bus stations along the route.

In addition, there will be earthworks, drainage, fencing and landscaping projects.

The winning contractor will be responsible for design or construction defects for a period of ten years from the beginning of commercial bus operations.

A council source said: "The busway is desperately needed to help ease traffic congestion and to try and persuade people not to use their cars all the time and to take public transport instead."

The Luton-Dunstable Translink Order came into effect in 2006, granting all necessary statutory powers for the scheme to go ahead.