Tenders for the Bingley relief road should be going out in May it has been revealed by the Highways Agency.

Peter Scally, project engineer for the £59m scheme, said most of the major civilian and engineering groups had expressed an interest and the contract would be awarded in November or December.

He said that meant work could then begin immediately but it was more likely to start in the new year with an completion date of autumn 2003.

"The next big stage is the invitation to tender which will hopefully be going out in May," he said.

''We have had all the replies to the European Journal ad and we are now assessing these responses and will be arriving at a shortlist in May and then inviting tenders. Over a dozen companies have expressed an interest.

"It will be a very difficult project technically, difficult ground conditions, the bogs (north and south) and Midland Hill car park. The glaciated valley left a lot of debris and unpredictable material. It is one of the most interesting and technically challenging schemes I've been involved in and I am pleased to be so."

He was keen to emphasise the enormous impact of the road on the Bingley area. "It's going to make the biggest impact in the area since the canal and the railways in 1846. In a historical context it is very important," he said.

And as someone who was involved in the abandoned 1975 public inquiry into the Aire Valley Trunk Road, he is enthusiastic about seeing this project through.

Disruption is to be kept to a minimum though given the massive scale of the project there is bound to be some. In order to mitigate these there will be close, on-the-ground monitoring of the situation.

He said:

lAbout 570,000 cubic metres of earth will be moved during the road's construction and will be one of the most technically challenging roads schemes in Yorkshire and Humber.

l It will have 26 structures including nine bridges throughout its three-mile length.

l The major bridges on the route will be a £5.5m bridge spanning the River Aire and low level bridges spanning South Bog and North Bog.

l It is expected that the road will remove about 60 per cent of traffic from the centre of Bingley.

l One of the most complex engineering features on the route will be the extension of the existing railway bridge at Crossflatts because of the need to maintain traffic flows on the A650 while construction is in progress.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.