An upgrade of the A45 near Birmingham Airport officially opened today (Wednesday). A total of 8km of new highway including dual carriageway, dedicated public transport corridor and a new airport perimeter road have been built.

The £32M road improvement includes a 2km long arc diversion of the A45 to allow the airport’s runway to be extended.

Solihull councillor Ted Richards said: “The improvements to the A45 will bring substantial benefits to some of the region’s key economic assets as well as supporting local connectivity and regeneration.”

A Volker Fitzpatrick Colas Joint Venture built the highway improvements and will also construct a 550m long runway extension for Birmingham Airport.

The scheme represented the first construction employment for four young apprentices taken on to help build the project. The four – Ben Levy, Antony Rankin, Jordan Turner and Michael Lynch (pictured) – were previously unemployed and have been training for an NVQ Level 2 qualification to help them develop careers as junior engineers.

Colas divisional director Carl Fergusson said: “We are delighted to have the apprentices working with us and know they have contributed a lot already in their time on the project. We strongly believe in the apprenticeship system as a way of bringing new young people into a career in construction.”

You can find out more about apprenticeships in Transportation Professional’s new Learning & Development Guide, published with this month’s edition.

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