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Repairs to major Lake District route A591 begin

Highways England will begin to repair the important road today. Parts of the A591 collapsed after becoming badly damaged in December's storms.

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Highways England defend A591 repairs timetable

Highways England has begun work to rebuild a damaged section of the A591, at Dunmail Raise.

Parts of the road collapsed during the floods of December 2015.

Our reporter Katie Hunter spoke to Andy Withington, of Highways England:

This is the start of the repair of the A591 at Dunmail Raise. We're working on building the foundations for a retaining wall, which will be adjacent to the watercourse, and then we'll be back for filling to get the road reestablished in the next few months.

– Andy Withington, Highways England

Many local people and businesses who have relied on the road, have complained that repairs for damage that happened in December 2015, have taken too long to get underway.

ITV Border reporter Katie Hunter put these concerns to Andy Withington:

We've been working with Cumbria County Council since January, so that's only five weeks. We've managed to get a contractor here over the last few weeks and we've started works today on the actual construction.

We've been working with designers to ensure the designs are appropriate, permanent repair, and we've got three months to effectively build and reinstate 120 metres of road - so that's quite a challenge, and a short time to build it in."

– Andy Withington, Highways England
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Repairs to major Lake District route A591 begin

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