City's most expensive road scheme delayed a year by 'extremely challenging' ground conditions

National Highways had aimed to complete the long-running £355m A63 improvement scheme next to Hull’s waterfront by spring next year. However the government agency’s latest update has put it back to March 2026.

The final phase of the scheme is the construction of a 400m-long underpass which will eventually take east-west traffic under a new road connecting Ferensway to Commercial Road.

It’s the most technically challenging part of the project due to complex ground conditions and a high groundwater table.

National Highways said they’d dug out 45,000 m³ of earth and were ready to start pouring concrete and forming the road and split-level junction. However they’d come across “extremely challenging ground conditions near the Humber that could not have been anticipated before the scheme began”.

They’d “unfortunately had to revise our completion timeline to March 2026 that will ensure we can minimise further disruption throughout the remaining work”.

Many in the area will remember how a short distance away under Hull Marina 25 years ago Yorkshire Water's 8.7 km-long tunnel collapsed, with a locomotive and tunnel boring machine still inside.

Council leader Mike Ross said it was “deeply disappointing”, adding: “I'm calling on National Highways to immediately reassure road users about the scheme going forward.

"I'm also calling for them to provide a business relief package for businesses who will be impacted by this alarming delay.”

Construction started in 2020 with the expectation it would take around five years to finish.