Ring road's final phase under way

It is the first time the inner ring road has been repaired

Work is starting on the final phase of Derby's inner ring road and should end in March - a year earlier than planned.

The £11m project includes the first major maintenance work to be carried out since the road was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Improvements are taking place between King Street bridge and Pentagon island, and down to Holmes bridge which runs over the River Derwent and Meadow Road.

The project was granted government funding earlier than anticipated.

It's unfortunate but the stark reality is we either do it or the roads become unsafe Councillor Chris Wynn, Derby City Council

Work started on 5 September 2005. The city council is resurfacing 40,000 square metres of road and replacing almost 4,000 metres of safety barriers.

"It's to bring it up to modern-day standards," said Councillor Chris Wynn, cabinet member in charge of planning and transportation.

"Hopefully (the work) will last us, if there's not too much traffic to beat it to a pulp, for the next 40 years."

Councillor Wynn said there would inevitably be delays during peak times while the work was completed.

"It's unfortunate but the stark reality is we either do it or the roads become unsafe.

"We all have to grit our teeth, me included, and just bear with it.

"We've put up with roadworks for almost two years and with work starting on Connecting Derby - Traffic Street, Riverlights and so on - the roadworks will go on for another two years."