Cumbria County Council in the UK has awarded a £176m contract to engineering and construction company Balfour Beatty for the Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR) project.

The project is aimed at decongesting traffic from Carlisle City Centre as well as improving transport facilities between West Cumbria, Scotland and the north east of England.

Under the public-private partnership contract, Connect CNDR, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty will design and construct a 8.25km two-way single carriageway road from M6 junction 44 to A595 south-west of Carlisle.

Connect CNDR will also manage and operate approximately 150km construction works of existing roads in Cumbria, as per the contract.

Balfour Beatty will invest about £11m of equity in the 30-year project.