WORK started this week on a £450,000 extension to Mersey Road in Runcorn old town.

The new road - to be finished by Christmas - will open up a whole new area for motorists and pedestrians.

The seven-metre carriageway will take the existing road from the Runcorn Bridge to the Dukesfield area.

It follows a study carried out two years ago by Halton Council which showed a need for another road into the Dukesfield area.

"The road is also important to open up the new housing site," said a Halton Council spokesman. "It will also be used in the future as a link to the planned college site."

The construction work, awarded to contractors Eric Wright, is expected to take 16 weeks.

"The road has been planned to be as sensitive to the local residents as possible," said a council spokesman.

An environmental and landscaping project - to coincide with the new road - is to start in the New Year, with a grant from English Partnerships.

This project will create a continuation of the promenade all the way to Bridgewater House.

The plans include landscaping the area and creating footpaths on the line of the locks and cycleways.

Once the six month programme is completed, people will be able to walk from the centre of town, along the Manchester Ship Canal and back along the Bridgewater Canal.

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