New delay hits £68m road project in Nidderdale after years of landslides and frustration

The original announcement by North Yorkshire Council forecast a completion date of summer 2025 for the Kex Gill bypass, near Blubberhouses, which replaces a section of the A59 which has suffered 14 landslips since 2000 and caused major disruption to traffic.

But this week the council, which is contributing £12 million towards the project, with the Department for Transport supplying the rest, said that has now changed to spring 2026.

The biggest highways scheme of its kind ever to be undertaken by North Yorkshire Council, or its predecessor, Richard Binks, the council's head of major projects and infrastructure, told councillors that the project did not just involve the construction of a new 4.8km long road, but also:

The building of 12 structures including an underpass and culverts.

The creation of a 2.5-mile temporary haul road.

A new drainage pond.

More than 85 metres of steel sheets to create a structural wall.

The new bypass, Mr Binks told the Skipton and Ripon committee meeting in Skipton, was being moved to the north side of the valley, where the conditions are more stable, and will include a three lane section for the over-taking of slow moving vehicles.

North Yorkshire Council’s major projects boss also told councillors that £2 million spent on repairs at the start of the year had not gone to waste as the work had included future proofing connected with the new stretch of road.

The 'unfortunate slippage' at the side of the A59 earlier this year, which had led to the road being closed for almost five months, had left a cavern of about a meter deep, he told the meeting.

The A59, which connects Harrogate and Skipton, is not only a key road for the Nidderdale area but also provides a route across the North of England.

Recent years have seen a stretch of the road at Kex Gill subject to a frustrating number of landslides, impacting on daily life – and business – in the Dales.