Five groups chase £106m A11 upgrade job

Five joint venture rivals have picked up the tender paperwork for a crucial road deal in East Anglia, worth around £106m.

The line-up for upgrading the A11 between the Fiveways roundabout in Suffolk and the roundabout at the southern end of the Thetford bypass in Norfolk features contractors in tandem with consultants.

The runners are: Costain/Halcrow; May Gurney/Faber Maunsell; Birse/Mouchel; Sir Robert McAlpine/Atkins; and Skanska/URS.

The Highways Agency (HA) is expected to name its preferred contractor towards the end of this year.

But a clear start date on site for the Early Contractor Involvement project is not yet available, as there will have to be a public inquiry into the scheme first before its gets the final all clear.

The winning contractor is expected to take around two years to complete the job.

Originally, the HA appointed Parsons Brinckerhoff to supervise the project, but later replaced the firm with Jacobs.

The job entails dualling a 14.8km stretch of the A11, which is the last remaining single carriageway section on the strategic M11/A11 route to Norwich, providing an important link between Norfolk and the rest of eastern England.

Other features of the job include improvements to the Fiveways roundabout, a bypass for the village of Elveden and access bridges to help farming operations at Canada Drive and Chalk Hill farm.

The HA says that the final part of the widening scheme is essential to ease chronic congestion on the A11, especially during holiday periods.