THE county council is showing its commitment to £225 million project to transform the A417 by carrying out ground investigation work.

The work is being carried out to get a better understanding of how the ground is made up below the surface, to help make plans for the missing link a reality.

The fight for funding for the scheme started in January this year and has quickly gathered pace with more than 6,400 people already signed up to support the campaign.

Now, the county council is carrying out investigation work to get a better understanding of how the ground is made up below the surface, to help make plans for the ‘missing link’ a reality.

This work is part of a funding commitment made by council leader Mark Hawthorne earlier this year, where £500,000 was pledged to help support the A417 Loop become a reality.

The road is used by more than 34,000 vehicles a day and has one of the worst average vehicle delays of all routes in the region. There have been more than 340 casualties on the road in the past 15 years.

The work will begin with bore holes being drilled down into the soil to retrieve samples to be used for later analysis, which will help with any improvements made to the road in the future.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “We are committed to supporting the only viable solution which is the A417 Loop.

“Not only have we been raising awareness of the campaign, but we have also invested to ensure a solution is found to reduce the number of accidents and ease congestion and pollution on this short stretch of road.”

The missing link is a 5km stretch of single carriageway on the A417 trunk road, with the remaining route between the M4 at Swindon and M5 at Gloucester being dual carriageway.

The government has previously investigated a large number of solutions for the missing link and concluded that the A417 Loop was the only answer.

Visit the website, www.a417missinglink.co.uk for more information or to pledge your support. You can also email info@a417missinglink.co.uk and follow us on Twitter @A417loop.