A major upgrade to the A428 has reached its halfway stage, with work costing roughly £1 million each day. The scheme, led by National Highways, involves constructing a 10-mile stretch of dual carriageway linking the Black Cat roundabout in Bedfordshire to Caxton Gibbet in Cambridgeshire. The new route is designed to cut congestion and make journeys faster for the approximately 80,000 vehicles that pass through the Black Cat roundabout on weekdays. Key upgrades will add an A1 underpass, an A421 flyover, and a direct dual carriageway link to the M11.

Paul Salmon, senior project manager with National Highways, told the BBC: "A billion pounds, that's the the cost of the scheme. At the moment we're in the peak because it's the peak earth moving season, we're spending about a million pounds a day."

Salmon said there is a lot of scrutiny on this project by the Department for Transport and the Treasury as it's the biggest road project in construction at the moment.

Salmon further explained that people connecting to the existing single carriageway from nearby junctions and local villages caused a "pinch point".

He explained: "This work just unlocks all those problems, unlocks safety issues, that time people spend queuing in traffic.

"There was a huge amount of support in the leadup to this scheme. People who know this area, live and travel through, totally understand why this scheme is being built."

Salmon added the project was halfway complete ahead of major roadworks planned for this weekend.

He said: "We're exactly where we should be.

"We had a real problem with rain in September last year, massive amounts of flooding right across the region and that affected us as well, but we've more than made that back.

"Spring 2027 is when we're open for traffic. Sounds like a long time, but actually we're already 18 months through, so it won't take long now."