EAST Lancashire's long awaited motorway lifeline is finally open - after a last-ditch demo by protesters who spent weeks trying to stop its construction at Stanworth Woods and Darwen.
Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw cut the ribbon at Guide on the 13-mile link road - which connects the M65 with the M6.
Blackburn with Darwen Council say the new road has already attracted more than £35 million of public and private sector investment.
Mr Straw said: "This will have a major social and economic benefit to East Lancashire and to the lives of my constituents in Blackburn, who have had to put up with major traffic going through their town.
"The case for completing the missing link of the M65 was undeniable as the existing motorway was never designed to end at Whitebirk."
He added: "The people who protested against it were mainly from outside the area and the people of East Lancashire have been looking forward to this for a long time."
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