The notorious bottleneck that has frustrated Gloucestershire drivers for generations has finally been removed — but motorists travelling between Cheltenham and Gloucester are being warned their journeys will never look quite the same again.
What Happened
From 6am on Friday 18 September, the permanent new route on the A417 Missing Link scheme opened to traffic, allowing drivers to travel along the A417 between Gloucester and Cirencester without having to negotiate the infamous Air Balloon roundabout for the first time in the road’s history. The milestone comes three years after construction began in 2023 on the £500 million project to replace a notorious three-mile stretch of single-lane carriageway between Brockworth bypass and Cowley, which connected the M5 and M4 motorways.
The new tarmac carries traffic in its permanent layout — albeit under traffic management with narrower lanes and temporary speed limits in place while work continues — marking what project bosses called the end of the “missing” in the Missing Link. Kier Project Director Gavin Jones said the opening “marks the first time that traffic will be able to travel along the length of the A417 from the M5 to the M4 without having to negotiate a roundabout,” adding that the ‘missing’ section “can now be consigned to history.”
What Changes for Cheltenham Drivers
The opening of the new road brings a significant routing change that will affect thousands of commuters travelling between Cheltenham and Gloucester each day. There is no longer a direct route from Cheltenham — via Leckhampton Hill and the A417 — or from Oxford via Seven Springs and the A436, directly into Gloucester. Traffic from those directions must now use the new A436 to reach the Shab Hill junction, where drivers can either continue towards Cirencester or use a new underpass to access the northbound slip road towards Gloucester.
The Air Balloon roundabout, which sat at the junction of the A417 and A436 and was long regarded as one of the most congestion-prone spots in the county, has been permanently removed as part of the scheme. National Highways says the changes will ultimately reduce journey times and improve road safety for the tens of thousands of vehicles that use the route daily.
Background: A 15-Year Campaign
The drive to fix the A417 Missing Link stretches back to at least 2011, when a public petition first highlighted that the short but infamous stretch of road was the only remaining single-lane section on the entire route from the Channel Tunnel to Scotland. Successive governments delayed action, and costs escalated sharply: the original 2020 estimate of around £253 million ballooned to approximately £500 million by the time Kier were awarded the main contract in 2022. The project was designed with the Cotswolds National Landscape in mind, with National Highways committing to landscape-led engineering that would minimise visual impact and enhance local biodiversity along the route.
Separately, the planned M5 Junction 10 improvements near Cheltenham — a £407 million scheme seen as vital to unlock land for 20,000 new homes and 12,000 jobs at the Golden Valley cyber campus — are expected to begin main construction works imminently, with completion anticipated by spring 2029.
What Happens Next
The full project, including additional lanes and two new bridges — one of which will be among the largest environmental crossings in the country — is expected to be completed in full by 2027. National Highways has warned that significant roadworks will continue alongside the newly opened section throughout the coming months, and drivers using the route should expect ongoing lane restrictions and temporary speed limits. The new B4070 road towards Birdlip and the northbound slip road at Cowley junction are due to open later this year.
This is a developing story as further milestones are reached on the A417 scheme.
