The Highways Agency has announced a major milestone has been reached in improvements for the A453 in Nottinghamshire, where a new section of carriageway is being opened to the public this week.

A closure of the existing route from West Leake Junction to Parkway Junction is scheduled to take place at 20:00 BST on Wednesday (August 20th), at which point traffic will be transferred to the new westbound carriageway for future use.

Highways Agency assistant project manager Robin Jackson said: "This is another exciting milestone in the widening of the A453.

"Switching traffic to the new carriageway will enable us to bring the existing eastbound carriageway up to the same standard as the westbound and brings the scheme's completion a step closer."

Until the final stages of refurbishment for the eastbound stretch of the road have been completed, the westbound route will serve as a single-lane road for all users.

Mr Jackson added that travellers in the area are advised to continue to leave extra time to complete their journeys until the switchover has been completed, as they will have to get used to not only a new road layout but also expected higher volumes of road users due to the limited lane capacity for now.

Widening of the A453 officially got underway in January last year and considerable progress has been made on the project by the Highways Agency to date.

The schedule for completion of the widening works as a whole has now been set for between July and September 2015. In total, the estimated cost of the scheme is £150 million.

Once finished, the scheme will have delivered key widening to a 5.5-mile rural stretch of the A453 from M1 junction 24 to the new Clifton Mill Hill Roundabout, as well as a 1.5-mile urban stretch of the route through Clifton itself.