The newly-raised section of the A96 at Forres is to open this week – four weeks ahead of schedule.

The news marks another significant milestone that has been reached as work on the River Findhorn and Pilmuir flood alleviation scheme continues.

Work on the A96 commenced in March 2013 and traffic on the trunk road has been diverted 650m in order to allow the alignment of the A96 to be raised by several feet. The raised alignment will allow drainage channels from the Pilmuir area of Forres to flow underneath the road and directly into the River Findhorn. In addition, a new roundabout has also been constructed to provide improved access to and from the Greshop industrial estate at its western end.

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In a statement, Moray Council has said final checks on the road will take place on Thursday (3 April) to make sure everything is in place before traffic is allowed back onto the section of road later that afternoon. Further checks will be made on the Friday to ensure there are no problems.

Councillor George Alexander, Chair of Moray Council's flood alleviation sub-committee, welcomed the early reopening, saying: "The fact that the stretch of road is reopening four weeks ahead of schedule typifies the excellent progress that is being made on the scheme as a whole."

Work on the flood scheme started 18 months ago and is due for completion in spring 2015. It is currently predicted that the scheme will be £6m under its initial budget.

(JP)