A £22MILLION scheme to rebuild Dorset’s busiest road will begin in September 2015.

Dorset County Council said the major project on Bournemouth’s Spur Road will reconstruct the five-and-a-half-mile stretch of road between the Ashley Heath roundabout and Blackwater Junction at Hurn.

It comes just days after it was revealed the A31 at Ringwood would be widened to three lanes as part of the £15bn Department for Transport road scheme.

Work on the major highway will include replacing and upgrading the safety barrier to concrete, improving drainage to solve flood problems, making the carriage-way width fit with current standards, renewing road signs and carrying out maintenance and protection to bridges.

The key scheme has been made possible following a £66million Growth Deal between Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (DLEP) and the Government earlier this year.

Initially it was thought work to rebuild the road would start in the spring.

But Dorset County Council confirmed it will be September when the major maintenance scheme begins.

Cabinet member for environment and the economy, Cllr Peter Finney, said details were still being discussed but the work may continue until the spring of 2016.

Councillor Peter Finney, cabinet member for environment and the economy, said: “This money really will be a lifeline for business development and growth in Dorset.

The rate of deterioration of the Spur Road has overtaken the rate at which we can ‘patch it up’.

“This funding will enable us to completely reconstruct the roadand bring it up to modern dual carriageway standards.

“To try and complete the work as quickly as possible, we will be working 24 hours a day, six days a week with one day off to allow for a shift change. We will also be reusing as much material from the site as possible – this will reduce the number of lorries and the amount of diesel being used, helping the carbon footprint of this scheme.”

Lorna Gibbons, director of the DLEP said: “I am delighted that the DLEP was successful in bidding for these much needed improvements. This will unlock jobs and employment sites. This is a very important programme of activity for Dorset.”

Cllr Finney also said average speed cameras could be used to reduce the speed limit to “quite a low level to ensure the safety of everybody”.

It is hoped the work will reduce the need for pothole repairs, patching and other maintenance and lower traffic noise levels.

The £66million Growth Fund also includes improvements at Chapel Gate, Hurn roundabout and Blackwater interchange, as well as Bear Cross roundabout, A338 widening from Cooper Dean to Blackwater, Longham mini-roundabout and Mountbatten junctions.

The A338: a factfile

The A338 Bournemouth Spur Road carries nearly 60,000 vehicles per day, of which 3.7 per cent – 2,200 vehicles – are HGVs.

It was built in the late 1960s, and the structure of the road is failing.

Works to repair the carriageway over the years have only been short-term.

The stretch was due a major makeover in the autumn of 2010 but the government pulled the plug on funding at the last minute.

By then £1million had already been spent on preparatory work, including six months’ of clearing verges and removing rare sand lizards.At the time the council considered ploughing ahead with the scheme using loans and grants but decided it was impossible due to budget cuts.