BETTER footpaths are being created to give walkers a happier passage along the country path network around Howe Bridge.

Resurfacing the pathways is part of a £2m project to reinstate a huge 40 kilometre-long "scar" created by the installation of a 42-inch diameter pipeline from Mawdesley to Warrington.

Next month construction of the final stretch of the giant pipeline gets underway and contractors will begin the process of returning the pipeline route -- which cut a swathe through a large patch of Journal-land -- to its natural state. As part of that process, footpaths will be created along parts of the scar which measures 40 metres wide.

Last year 34km of pipe was laid and once the last six kilometres are completed reinstatement will soon hide all traces of what has been a major engineering project.

Project manager Peter Johnson said: "When viewed from a high vantage point it looks as though a motorway is being built

across country. This is because we clear a 40-metres wide strip of land to provide access for the heavy plant we use in constructing the pipeline. "Now work is complete at the northern end of the pipe we can start replacing the topsoil and the area will soon be green again.

"We have made very good progress with the pipeline and would like to thank people living along the route for their patience.

"Our environmental reinstatement programme gets underway shortly and will soon erase all signs of construction work. The pipeline will be buried underground for its entire length providing an invisible but safe, efficient and reliable gas supply to the people of the North West for many years to come."

As reported in The Journal, over the past year contractors have laid the pipeline under 36 roads, two railways, two rivers and a canal and at Howe Bridge entered the record books when engineers constructed the longest concrete tunnel ever when they burrowed under Leigh Road. The pipeline is due to be commissioned in October when it will start to carry gas to meet growing demand in the north west, North Wales and Midlands.