Improvement works at Greengates Junction will have cost £5m more than first estimates by the time they are completed

West Yorkshire’s Mayor was told that “uncharted pipes” and disruption caused by Covid 19 were among the reasons for the spiralling costs of the Greengates Junction works.

Since Summer 2020, the works at the Harrogate Road/New Line junction at Greengates has led to lengthy traffic delays in the area.

The major infrastructure scheme will see lanes widened, a new mini link road, new signals, cycle and pedestrian facilities, and turn only lanes. It was aimed at reducing congestion at one of the District’s busiest junctions.

Data released in 2019 found that the route from Harrogate Road in Greengates to Saltaire was in the top five most congested roads in the UK.

When junction improvements were first proposed the work was expected to cost around £8.7m.

But by 2019 the estimated cost had risen to £11.4m.

Work began in July 2020, and last year it was announced that the original completion date for the works - October 2021, would be missed. The projected end date is currently at some point this Spring.

At a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which is funding much of the work, members heard that the reasons for this delay had also caused the cost of the project to further rise.

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When contractors finally down their tools the scheme will have cost £13.75m.

A report to the Authority’s Finance, Resources, and Corporate Committee said: “This scheme has encountered unexpected difficulties due to the discovery of previously unmapped water utility infrastructure during construction.

“This exceptional circumstance has caused unforeseen delay and increase in cost.”

At yesterday’s meeting, members were asked to increase the amount of funding for the scheme to pay for the rising costs.

The report added: “Construction works uncovered uncharted culverts, ground water and dozens of unknown pipes, ducts and cable.

“Although planning had involved the necessary site investigations and discussions with utilities companies, these were not able to be identified and were not mapped, and so could not have been identified prior to construction.

“This has significantly increased the complexity of the scheme, and specialist contractors have needed to be brought in to ensure that the relocation of existing services are carried out whilst maintaining services to residents and businesses.

“Extensive design changes have been required to this project to enable works to progress. The work required to deal with the uncharted underground utilities has caused a substantial delay, with estimates of more than 30 weeks resulting in significant increases to cost and delivery timescales.

“The scheme was further delayed by Covid 19, with staff needing to isolate with symptoms of Covid affecting all parties involved, further contributing to the scheme delays.”

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Due to the rising costs, Combined Authority finding for the scheme has been upped from £7,665,000 to £8,812,000, while the amount Bradford Council is paying into the scheme will be increased from £2,736,000 to £3,016,000.

At the meeting Melanie Corcoran, Director of Delivery, said: “This is a critical junction leading to Leeds Bradford Airport and Bradford city centre.

“A number of unforeseen costs came to light during work, including a number of uncharted utilities that were found, even though the project teams did all their usual checks. It added cost and time to the delivery of the project.”

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin asked: “How often does this type of thing happen? You would think Yorkshire Water should be really experienced in this type of thing.”

Mrs Corcoran replied: “They map what they believe is there. but there were multiple pipes that were not mapped. It has taken much more effort to move and divert them.

“This situation does happen more and more as we carry out more major traffic schemes where a highway may not have been uncovered for a number of years.”

She said despite the rising costs, the junction work scheme was still classed as being “very high value for money” due to the amount of congestion it will prevent.

Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe said the work had caused a huge amount of disruption, and added: “It needs to be completed as soon as possible.”

At the same meeting members backed £40m plans to widen Armley Gyratory, a scheme described as “critical” to diverting cars away from Leeds city centre.