Government confirms detail of £15 billion roads programme 01 December 2014

What's being hailed as the biggest upgrade to English roads in a generation – an ambitious £15 billion plan that triples spending by the end of the decade – has been announced by the DfT (Department of Transport).

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin and chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander say the investment is aimed at increasing capacity in bottleneck areas – with more than 100 new road schemes over this parliament and next – as well as improving the condition of England's roads.

In the first ever publication of a Road Investment Strategy, they calculate that more than 1,300 new lane-miles will be added over the next parliament on motorways and trunk roads, "tackling congestion and fixing some of the most notorious and problem areas".

This includes £1.5 billion worth of extra lanes on motorways that they say will turn them into "smart motorways, boosting connectivity between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Yorkshire".

"Today, I am setting out the biggest, boldest and most far-reaching roads programme for decades," states McLoughlin. "It will dramatically improve our road network and unlock Britain's economic potential."

And he adds that spending during the next parliament will be boosted further by maintenance funding totalling more than £10bn across England's local and national road network.

Flagship projects announced today include:

• South West: £2 billion to dual the entire A303 and A358 to the south west, including a tunnel at Stonehenge.
• North East: £290 million to complete dualling of the A1 from London to Ellingham.
• North West and Yorkshire: completing the smart motorway along the M62 from Manchester to Leeds, plus improvements to trans-Pennine capacity from Manchester to Sheffield.
• North West: improving links to the Port of Liverpool – one of 12 such projects to improve access to major international gateways.
• South East: £350 million of improvements to the A27 along the south coast.
• East of England: £300 million to upgrade the east-west connection to Norfolk, by dualling sections of the A47 and improving its connections to the A1 and A11.
• London and the South East: improving one-third of the junctions on the M25.
• Midlands: improving the M42 to the east of Birmingham; improving links to Birmingham airport, the National Exhibition Centre and the local Enterprise Zone.

"For decades our roads have suffered from under investment, so I'm particularly delighted to be able to announce this expansive range of new road schemes today," states Danny Alexander, chair of the Cabinet Infrastructure Committee and chief secretary to the Treasury.

"Investment on this scale is only possible because we have taken the difficult decisions needed to control our public finances and stuck to our recovery plan, which is now delivering strong growth and record numbers of jobs."

And he adds that, as well as increasing capacity on the road network, the government is transforming the Highways Agency into a government-owned company.

This, says Alexander, means that funding can be allocated on a longer term basis, saving the taxpayer "at least £2.6 billion over the next 10 years".

For full details, use the link below.

Author
Brian Tinham

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