IT has been open to traffic since December - and now its officially in use.

The South Devon Link Road, the 5.5km dual carriageway, providing the long awaited bypass for Kingskerswell, was officially opened today (Monday) by Roads Minister Andrew Jones.

Civic dignitaries from Teignbridge and Torbay were among many guests invited to the opening, which was followed by a reception at the Bickley Mill Inn, Bickington.

The new £110 million road is now called the South Devon Highway. The project was granted full approval by the government in May 2012 and work began in the autumn of the same year.

The improved access to Torbay and south Devon is expected to bring lasting economic benefits, leading to the creation of nearly 8,000 jobs in south Devon, around 3,500 of these in Torbay.

It is expected that the road will remove 95% of traffic away from Kingskerswell, restoring and revitalising the village, which has suffered heavy traffic for years.

The A380 between Penn Inn, Newton Abbot, and Kerswell Gardens, Torquay, was one of the most choked up and heavily used roads in the region, carrying more than 35,000 vehicles a day. The new road is carried over the Penn Inn roundabout by a flyover, one of the major building projects involved the new road.

The bypassed A380 road will provide a quieter route for local traffic, buses, cyclists and pedestrians through Kingskerswell.