Balfour secures highways contract

Teams will work on maintenance around the clock

Civil engineering company Balfour Beatty has won part of a contract worth up to £400m to maintain roads in the south west.

The firm will carry out resurfacing, bridge refurbishment and winter gritting on trunk roads and motorways.

The contract extends to Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, greater Bristol and parts of Devon and Dorset.

A spokesman said: "With this new award we now have a confirmed order book of over £700m."

The five-year Highways Agency contract is worth between £50m and £80m annually and could be extended by a further two years.

It was won by joint venture InterRoute, made up of Balfour's road management and maintenance subsidiary RCS - the main shareholder - and Mott MacDonald.

InterRoute is already responsible for maintaining more than 1,300 miles of motorways and trunk roads across the south of England.

The contract also covers the maintenance of technology such as electronic road signs for the whole South West region.