Dualling of A509 between Kettering and Isham 'to be complete by 2021'

The section that will be made a dual carriageway is outlined in red.

Detailed plans have gone in to Kettering Council over the 1km stretch which will link the A14 to a huge warehouse site called Symmetry Park, which was approved despite furious scenes this year. Once complete it will create more than 2,000 jobs.

One planning condition was that the A509 to the site must be made a dual carriageway before a unit is occupied and documents say the road and a new roundabout at the Station Road junction could be complete by the end of 2021.

A planning statement said: "North of the new roundabout, a new two-lane section of road would provide for the northbound traffic.

"Southbound traffic would be routed along the existing A509, with the addition of new road infrastructure to accommodate new areas of highway.

"As a result, the A509 would be converted to a dual carriageway operation between the new roundabout and Junction 9 of the A14."

Construction of the road, subject to planning permission being granted as expected, is likely to start at the end of 2020 and last for about 12 months.

It is expected that the construction will be phased so that the west carriageway and western half of the roundabout will be completed before switching to the east carriageway and eastern half of the roundabout.

Once complete it will have a 50mph speed limit - lower than the current 60mph limit on the same stretch - and won't be lit. Only the new roundabout will have lighting.

The new road is not popular with local traffic campaigners, who have been pressing for a bypass around Isham for decades.

Despite approval the bypass scheme was paused after it lost all £25m of its earmarked funding last year.

Kettering councillors said the warehouse scheme did not require a bypass.

The new road and roundabout layout will "safeguard the future delivery of the rest of the Isham bypass", according to plans.

Seventy-one per cent of those who responded to a public consultation said they did not support plans to dual the A509, a view backed up by Isham parish councillor Graham Rait.

He said: "It's just ridiculous to think they can build a bit of road there and that it's going to help traffic.

"There will be two lanes merging into one and it will be slow. That roundabout will be congested."