{"id":155862,"date":"2025-10-07T10:44:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=155862"},"modified":"2025-10-07T10:44:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:44:00","slug":"road-over-hs2-chipping-warden-tunnel-re-aligned-reopened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/projects\/road-over-hs2-chipping-warden-tunnel-re-aligned-reopened\/155862\/","title":{"rendered":"Road over HS2 Chipping Warden tunnel re-aligned and reopened"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tunnel is one of the longest \u2018cut-and-cover\u2019 tunnels on the project, and required work to be done on a section of the A361<\/h2>\n

The HS2 Chipping Warden tunnel will stretch for 2.5km, and has reached a milestone with the reopening of the A361 carriageway over the top of the tunnel.<\/p>\n

This marks the completion of the section of cutting (the process of creating the tunnel and placing earth back on top) that disturbed and required adjustment to the A361.<\/p>\n

The A361 was closed for 11 days<\/h3>\n

The section of road running from Banbury to Daventry was closed to allow work to take place, re-aligning the road and joining the section to the new relief road completed in 2022.<\/p>\n

View video footage of the tunnel here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Work can now continue on the tunnel without interruptions to local traffic.<\/p>\n

This work will consist of creating the missing sections of the tunnel to join up the two parts that have been built so far. This involves cutting the tunnel, placing concrete segments, and then placing the earth on top of the tunnel.<\/p>\n

The tunnel will be in an \u2018M\u2019 shape, and will have two separate halves for northbound and southbound trains.<\/p>\n

HS2 Ltd\u2019s senior project manager, Hugo Rebelo, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve had some serious challenges with the Chipping Warden green tunnel, so it\u2019s great to see the A361 permanently diverted and a clear path ahead for the completion of the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe improvements we\u2019ve made to construction processes over the last year have helped us turn a corner \u2013 but we still need to keep up the focus on productivity, while delivering the work safely and to the necessary quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d also like to thank our neighbours for their patience during the road closure, which was necessary to complete the realignment of the road and our site teams for working so hard to get it reopened on time.\u201d<\/p>\n

HS2 undergoing a \u2018fundamental reset\u2019<\/h3>\n

In February, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) released a scathing report<\/a> detailing \u201ca litany of failures and unheeded warnings\u201d that was costing the project up to \u00a380bn.<\/p>\n

Criticism in the report was levelled at the disagreement between HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport, who could not agree on a price for Phase 1 of the project, as well as the handling of Euston station\u2019s redevelopment, having no plan in the wake of project changes, and even the infamous bat tunnel, which doubled the cost of that section of track to \u00a3100m.<\/p>\n

The chief executive of HS2, Mark Wild, has since promised<\/a> that 2025-26 will focus on a fundamental reset of the project, which \u201cwill deliver a clear, realistic budget and timeline for HS2 that the government supports\u201d through:<\/p>\n