Village reunited by new motorway

The new section (right) bypasses the village of Fairburn

Two sides of a Yorkshire village which were divided by one of the UK's busiest roads have been reunited.

Highways Agency officials have opened the northbound carriageway of the new A1 motorway between Micklefield and Brotherton in North Yorkshire.

The new section of the A1 now takes vehicles away from Fairburn where residents used a bridge to get from one side of the village to the other.

The old A1 through Fairburn is being converted into a quiet local road.

Up to 60,000 vehicles - a third of them HGVs - had been using the dual carriageway through the village every day.

The road is part of a £245m Highways Agency project to upgrade the A1 to motorway standard between Darrington in West Yorkshire and Dishforth in North Yorkshire.

Later in the year the Highways Agency plans to remove some of the old southbound carriageway and create a landscaped area.