The Department for Transport has approved a £27.6m grant towards the total cost of £43.3m second stage of the Bristol Metrobus project.
Just last September the DfT approved £34m funding for the first stage of construction.
The MetroBus network uses dedicated ‘busways’ to provide new express bus services into the city.
The first section is a 2.5 mile stretch that contractors Balfour Beatty and Alun Griffiths are building from the Long Ashton park & ride site in the southwest of the city to the city centre. It will follow former rail routes and will include a new bridge over the Bristol to Portishead railway line. The city centre section will run on existing roads with added bus priority measures including bus lanes and upgraded junctions. This part is expected to be completed in April 2016.
The second section, now approved, involves the construction of another 3.1 miles of busways in the south of the city between the A370 Long Ashton Bypass and Hengrove Park. It will connect to the Ashton Vale to Temple Meads MetroBus section already under construction. The work is scheduled to be completed on the second section (south Bristol link) by November 2016.
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