Government ramps up investment in roads

12.00 | 12 November 2013 | | 7 comments

The Government has announced that more than £1.9 billion will be invested in Britain’s roads during 2014.

In total, the Government has announced investment totalling £4.3 billion to fund 209 schemes, £1.9 billion of which will be spent in 2014 – more than twice the amount spent in 2013.

The Government estimates that the road programmes which will either start or be completed in 2014 will boost the economy by more than £18.8 billion. The schemes are part of a £100 billion package of investment in Britain’s infrastructure over the next seven years, which the Government says is the largest programme of investment since the 1970s.

The roads programme is just one part the Government’s drive to create a “high-performance road network” that can cope with the expected 43% increase in traffic by 2040.

Robert Goodwill, transport minister, said: “Roads are the lifeblood that keeps our economy going – they create jobs and help get products to markets. This Government is committed to delivering the modern infrastructure we need to compete in the global race, investing across the board to cut congestion and reduce journey times in roads, rail and local transport.

“We are already seeing massive improvements being made to our major roads and motorways. In 2014 the public will see even greater improvements right across the country.”

The schemes under construction in 2014 include 178 “pinch point” schemes that tackle local bottlenecks and 31 “major schemes” to improve key networks.

The schemes that are due to start or complete in 2014 include: M4 J19-20 and M6 J5-8 near Birmingham; A11 Fiveways to Thetford near Norwich; M25 J23-27; A45/A46 Tollbar End and M1 J19 improvements in the Midlands; A23 Handcross to Warninglid near Crawley; the M3 J2-4a in the South East; and the A1 Leeming to Barton in the North of England.

Click here to read the full DfT news release.

Comments

Comment on this story

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Report a reader comment

Order by Latest first | Oldest first | Highest rated | Lowest rated

    What holds traffic up on the motorways is largely to do with the number of commercial lorries that drive two abreast even on a two lane motorway or arterial road and reduce the speed of others to a 57mph crawl.

    If lorries tailgating (within 20 ft of rear vehicle) and also overtaking at 1mph faster (or even slower) were stopped there would be less delays and industry and commerce would flourish.


    bob craven Lancs
    Agree (0) | Disagree (0)
    0

    ‘Fight back with Facts’ – admirable, but where none are available, rash generalisations, guesswork, exaggeration, blinkered assessment, wishful thinking and the odd urban myth, will suffice apparently.


    Hugh Jones, Cheshire
    Agree (0) | Disagree (0)
    0

    Hugh – reductions of speed limits are happening all over the place, and doing so in breach of a very long-standing principle that the best speed limit is the 85th percentile speed. Now many councils are setting them at the 50th percentile speed, making half our drivers criminals.

    I am personally in favor of an 80mph limit for economic reasons and because I think that the effect on casualty rates would be to reduce them, albeit marginally. But from what I read it probably isn’t going to happen. I drove 320 miles yesterday, almost all on motorways or dual carriageways. With cruise control set to 70mph I overtook nothing to speak of except HGVs but was overtaken almost continuously. I do not think many drivers would drive significantly faster, but at much the same speed, legally.


    Idris Francis Fight Back with Facts Petersfield
    Agree (0) | Disagree (0)
    0

    Idris: With regard to your first paragraph, is that apart from the recent high-profile proposals to increase the Motorway speed limit to 80?


    Hugh Jones, Cheshire
    Agree (0) | Disagree (0)
    0

    Hugh – the slowing everyone down policy is all around us, long established speed limits being reduced and previously safe speeds being declared illegal.

    Where on earth did the 43% increase in road traffic by 204 come from? Take a look at http://www.fightbackwithfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/GB-1950-2010-All.pdf showing that volume is no higher than in 2004, only the other day commentators were talking about “peak traffic” having already happened.

    I do not believe that figure for one moment, with electronics reducing the need for business travel, younger people socialising over the web instead of meeting up, and fewer younger people bothering to learn to drive not least due to insurance premiums.


    Idris Francis
    Agree (0) | Disagree (0)
    0

    Dave: It’s what it says on the tin…spending on major schemes aimed to relieve congestion, tackle bottlenecks, improving traffic flows and thereby reducing journey times..nothing to do with reversing a ‘slowing everybody-down’ policy – whatever that is.


    Hugh Jones, Cheshire
    Agree (0) | Disagree (0)
    0

    Where’s the evidence that the Government really is going to … reduce journey times in roads transport? Achieving this will clearly help the economy but they’ve spent vast sums over the past decade or more with the stated aim of slowing everybody down. Is this really a new policy that reverses old ones, or just the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?


    Dave Finney, Slough
    Agree (0) | Disagree (0)
    0

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close