A long-delayed £19m road designed to ease traffic in a notoriously congested town is set to open in the spring.

The 1km Rivington Chase link road in Horwich will further connect to town to the huge Middlebrook retail park and Bolton Wanderers’ Toughsheet Stadium.

It will also provide a spine route for the developing area of new housing and commercial property being built on the huge former Horwich Loco Works site.

The masterplan for the site will see around 1,700 homes built in phases and there is around four hectares of employment land planned in the south east corner of Rivington Chase to create new job opportunities.

It is also hoped the new road which will divert heavy traffic from Chorley New Road and the Beehive roundabout, often congested areas which have caused delays and frustration for motorists in the area for years.

The potential opening date for the road was published in a Greater Manchester Combined Authority scrutiny committee report on "Delivering the Bee Network".

The report detailed changes to bus services serving Horwich once the new transport link is opened.

The report said: “The 576 service will also be re-routed to serve Middlebrook once a new spine road providing a link between Horwich and Middlebrook opens in Spring, 2025.”

The 576 currently runs from Horwich to Lostock, Markland Hill, Heaton and Bolton Interchange. Government body Homes England originally approved £12m for the link road in 2018 but rising costs meant the council requested an increase in the grant to £19m in September 2021.

At that time the road was estimated to be finished by 2023.

When funding was originally granted, the road was expected to be fully operational by 2021

The 150-acre Rivington Chase housing development, led by property developer Bluemantle, was approved for planning in 2015.

In the GMCA scrutiny committee document there was also details published of the Bee Network introducing a new bus route connecting Wigan with the Middlebrook retail park.

The new hourly 615 service restores a link to the retail park lost four years ago.

Transport for Greater Manchester said it will be the first new bus route launched under the Bee Network, which has aspirations of creating a London-style public transport network in Greater Manchester.

Buses were brought back under local control in Greater Manchester for the first time in almost 40 years in September last year under the Bee Network umbrella.

The service will run from Sunday, October 27 in anticipation of the service being used by Christmas shoppers.