The contractor is understood to have won the job with a keen £12m bid, £7m below the initial cost estimate for the council.

The 1.1km-long dual-carriageway link road, which will run between the A500 Hough-Shavington bypass and the A5020, will create an alternate bypass for Crewe.

This will improve access to the A500 and M6 and alleviate traffic passing through the town. It is also hoped it will unlock two major employment sites at Basford, creating up to 12,500 jobs over the next 20 years.

The scheme requires a bridge to be built to carry the railway over the new highway and will involve a rail possession and closure of the line.