The Costain-Amey joint venture (JV) has completed a project to improve the A14 trunk road between Girton and Histon in Cambridgeshire, UK.

Covering addition of a third lane in both directions between Junctions 31 and 32, the project aims to help improve journey times on the A14, which frequently faces traffic congestion and delays.

The project also included improvements to the westbound access roads to the M11 and A14 at the Girton interchange. According to Highways England, the road is now fully open to traffic.

"We will be returning for a period of two weeks later in the year to complete the outstanding landscaping works."

Highways England service delivery team leader Aran Nugent said: "We recognise the scheme has taken longer than anticipated and we will be carrying out a debrief with our contractor, Costain and supervisor Amey, to understand how we can prevent similar issues happening in the future.

"We will be returning for a period of two weeks later in the year to complete the outstanding landscaping works, which we can’t complete now as we have to wait for the planting season to commence.

"However, this work will be completed overnight under lane closures only."

Construction work started in April 2014, and was originally scheduled to complete at the end of March. The A14 improvements are expected to help to support the creation of 582 jobs and 1,480 new homes by 2020.

The enhancements are being carried out as part of Highways England’s £317m pinch-point programme, which seeks to improve more than 100 congestion hotspots across the UK.

Prioritised in consultation with Local Enterprise Partnerships, the improvements are claimed to have accelerated delivery of road upgrades with proven links to local development priorities.