It’s officially over – nine months of queues, cones and diversions came to an end this weekend when the A338 fully reopened with all four carriageways running at 70mph.

Today's the first commuting day since the rebuild finished, so in case you missed it, here are some things you might want to know.

It has taken more than 11,000 man days, 64,000 cones, signs, and reflectors, and more than 35,000 tonnes of new road surface to achieve the new carriageway.

During the work 70,000 tonnes of material from the old road has been recycled, which the council says makes it one of the greenest road maintenance projects in the country.

The stretch of the A338 between Ashley Heath and Blackwater has been completely rebuilt and now boasts:

• A new lower noise surface layer

• 1 metre hard strip for emergency use

• Improved drainage to reduce flooding and ponding

• New concrete central reserve safety barrier to reduce maintenance and likelihood of crossover accidents

• New road signs, cats’ eyes and road markings

You'll have to get used to queuing at the Ashley Heath roundabout again

It's been nine months, so you might have forgotten that you have to queue to get off the A338 at Ashley Heath. But there are new road markings that are supposed to make the lane layout clearer. (Oh, and 'H'ton' stands for Horton.)

Where have the laybys gone?

There are no longer any parking laybys - they have all been marked for maintenance use only because “it wasn’t possible to reconstruct the lay-bys to a suitable standard within the design of the scheme.” No laybys will also help prevent fly-tipping into the essential drainage ditches, says DCC.

What about the newts?

As well as using some of the most cutting-edge technology in terms of rebuilding roads, Dorset County Council bosses also looked at new ways of tackling the newt problem.

Usually councils are required to apply for a licence from Natural England before beginning lengthy work to install reptile fencing and move the creatures by hand.

To avoid that, ecologists at Dorset County Council worked closely with Natural England to agree a new method of working – making the verges unattractive as habitat while enhancing other areas nearby to encourage the reptiles to move home.

There are also specially-designed tunnels for them - and otters - through the concrete barrier which runs nearly the entire length of the road.

What about the quarry?

Site leaseholders Lafarge Tarmac say their plans for a quarry are currently 'mothballed' and the site will be fenced and gated off when the rebuild is over. The slip roads will still be accessible to drivers however, and no work is planned to landscape the entrance or verges.

What about the Blackwater-Cooper Dean three lane plan?

When the rebuild scheme was announced, Cllr Michael Filer, portfolio holder for transport at Bournemouth Borough Council, said that the stretch of the road that Bournemouth is responsible for WOULD be expanded.

He said: “The stretch of road between Blackwater Junction and Cooper Dean Roundabout is going to be turned into three lanes.

“There will be one additional lane in each direction. That will help ease congestion for travellers, particularly those going to and from the airport.”

That plan is part of the wider Bournemouth Infrastructure Group project, and there are no concrete details or timetable yet.

Won’t we all be queuing again as soon as there’s an accident?

Well, fingers crossed there won’t be one. But if there were, the new central barrier has a steel section at either end A338 designed to put the road into contraflow if either side needs to be closed for any reason. So hopefully there won’t be any more of those days where drivers are stuck for hours behind a road closure.

But surely they’ll just be digging it all up again next week?

There are still some overnight closures booked in for June in case anything does need doing. But the council has an order on the road which means it can’t be dug up for gas, water or other utilities for five years.