Chapel Lane bridleway is now open, which means that walkers and riders can head from Chapel Lane all the way to Bincombe Lane on this upgraded route.
Work is continuing on many other footpaths and bridleways for the scheme, and the blog will be kept updated with the progress of these.
The first layers of tarmac for the Relief Road have been laid from the Ridgeway south towards Icen Lane – here you can see the section underneath Chapel Lane bridge heading north.
Chapel Lane bridge is also currently being surfaced, and there are only a couple of weeks of work remaining to put in kerbing and drainage before this bridleway can be reopened.
Aerial photos of the scheme, taken in April, are now on our Flickr account.
This image shows the reopened Manor Roundabout near Morrisons, the resurfaced bridleway into Two Mile Coppice and the ongoing work to complete the surface of the railway bridge.
The underpass at Two Mile Coppice, which will keep the bridleway connected, is being finished.
The new relief road will go over this underpass, at about the same level as the railway, before dropping down into a cutting through Lorton Meadows to the north.
The latest edition of The Route is out now.
On the back page you can find out more about the cycleways and bridleways being created as part of the relief road scheme.
The last of the arches for the Two Mile Coppice underpass were put up today, so the area looks quite different from ten days ago.
The new underpass provides a route for the bridleway underneath the new road and into Two Mile Coppice, where the existing bridleway is being resurfaced as part of the overall relief road works.
The current railway underpass can be seen on the left in both photos, and the new underpass structure will take a further ten weeks to complete.
Work started this week to build the new cycleway and bridleway that will lead from Upwey Station to the new Southdown Ridge bridge.
Pedestrians and riders are still able to use the existing route from Upwey Station to the top of Southdown Ridge, but are being asked to keep clear of the cordoned off construction works lower down the slope.
The new section of bridleway, shown in green hatching, should be completed by mid spring, and Southdown Ridge bridge will be completed before summer.
Over the first three months of 2010, all of the structures for the Weymouth Relief Road will start to take shape and most will be completed by May.
This includes a pedestrian underpass by Manor Roundabout and an underpass beneath the new road into Two Mile Coppice, as well as all the bridges for the scheme.
The footpath over Littlemoor bridge will be open shortly, and this will give a good view of the construction of the Southdown Ridge bridge.
There will also be work over the winter on many of the bridleways for the scheme and on the cycleway from Ridgeway to Dorchester.
As soon as weather conditions become reasonably dry, the main earthworks for the road construction will restart, in preparation for starting to surface the road during the summer.
Work is progressing on the improvements to the bridleway which runs alongside Two Mile Coppice.
Here you can see the drainage layer of chalk, which has reused material from the Ridgeway.
The final surfacing will be Mendip stone or something equally pretty.
Work is starting this week on improvements to bridleway BR30, which runs along the edge of Two Mile Coppice.
No more than ten small to medium trees will be coppiced, they have been surveyed for their wildlife value and none of them are ancient.
Ultimately the work, which has been approved by Natural England, will provide a stable gravel surface, which will be useable all year round and ensure the safety of horse riders.
