Major local road reopens after two-year realignment project as part of HS2 works

Work to build the 870-metre section of Harvil Road, between Harefield and Ickenham, which is crossed by the new high-speed railway, began in January 2020. Designed according to modern design regulations, each carriageway – with a width of more than three and a half metres – is wider than the road is replaces.

Carried by a new bridge over HS2, users of its 1.8m-wide footpaths will be able to glimpse high-speed trains travelling at up to 200mph as they run between the line’s Copthall tunnel and the Colne Valley viaduct, which by then will be Britain’s longest rail bridge. The road was reopened on Friday 2 February. 

The pre-existing section of Harvil Road, which can be seen on maps of the area dating back to the mid-eighteenth century, was closed to traffic as the new stretch opened. It will now be removed and the land under and around it will be greened with extensive tree and shrub planting as part of HS2’s landscaping.