The section of the A4440 running under the railway bridge between Whittington and Norton Roundabout should be fully dualled by next Spring.

That’s the word from Worcestershire County Council’s Highways department.

At the moment the south-bound carriageway is reduced to one lane, with two lanes running north because it is constrained by the original section of railway bridge.

A further section, which will allow a duel carriage way in both directions was constructed and put in place last month.

And work should start soon on constructing the new section of road to alleviate the bottleneck.

Suggestions that it could take up to three years to finish the road because funding for the work had not yet been identified drew an angry response from local resident Mike Kent who uses the road every day.

But now bosses at County Hall say they are so confident that builders will provide the cash for major new housing developments in the area, they are willing to find the money up front.

A spokesperson for the county council said: “Our contractor is currently putting the final touches to the railway bridge extension project including drainage, earthworks and concrete 'stitching'.

“Once that is completed in the next few weeks, they will begin work to dual the road between Whittington and Norton roundabouts which is scheduled to be completed by Spring 2019.

“This work will happen at the same time as the prep works for the dualling between Ketch and Powick roundabouts. Both phases of the scheme to dual the Southern Link Road from the M5 to the Powick Roundabout are a top priority for us and we are progressing, on schedule, with both.”

The spokesperson added that while money provided by developers hadn’t actually been forthcoming, the South Worcester urban development, which could see more than 2,000 houses built on the edge of the city was at such an advanced stage there was a high degree of confidence that funds would be available. Bosses at County Hall were therefore willing to use the council’s capital funds for the project in advance of the development monies.

Work on moving the new section of railway bridge into place, which saw both the road and railway line closed for nearly a week last month, was actually completed 36 hours earlier than planned.