Cow Lane bridges to be widened in autumn 2017

Long-awaited work to build a wider road under the Cow Lane railway bridges will begin later this year.

Network Rail has confirmed the project will go ahead after the Reading Festival, although it first has to go through a procurement process to find a contractor.

The long-planned new road to alleviate the Cow Lane bottleneck was delayed after one business objected to the compulsory purchase order for land alongside the existing road. The business dropped its objection but the delay meant the original contractor for the job – the firm that built the new rail viaduct into Reading Station – had moved off site.

The new road will be wide enough for two-way traffic, high enough for double-decker buses and lorries and there will be a shared pedestrian and cycle path.

This article originally appeared in Getreading.