Road investment strategy: post-2020

The first Road investment strategy (RIS 1) covered investment in England’s motorways and major roads (the ‘strategic road network’) during the 2015 to 2020 road period. This was the initial step in a long-term programme to improve England’s motorways and major roads. The process is repeatable and work is now underway to develop the second RIS — known as RIS 2 — covering the second road period post 2020.

RIS 1 was announced by the government in December 2014. It outlined a multi-year investment plan including over 100 major schemes funded by £15.2 billion of public money. RIS 2 needs to be developed over the coming years so that work on delivering long-term improvements to our roads can continue seamlessly beyond 2020. There are a number of steps that need to be completed leading up to 2020, which can be summarised in 3 phases:

• research
• decision
• mobilisation

RIS 2 research phase

To develop a RIS 2 that meets our aims and ensure our investment decisions are the right ones, a robust research phase will need to be completed. The main sources of information for this research will be the 6 strategic studies and the programme of refreshed route strategies covering the entire network.

The strategic studies address some of the biggest challenges facing the road network, including the:

• Northern Trans-Pennine — the A66 and A69 corridors
• Trans-Pennine tunnel — linking Manchester to Sheffield
• Manchester north-west quadrant — the M60 from junctions 8 to 18
• A1 east of England — from the M25 to Peterborough
• Oxford to Cambridge expressway
• M25 south-west quadrant

The second road investment strategy, influenced by the feasibility and research reports listed, was released on 11 March 2020

Proposals for the Strategic Road Network (SRN) and its current and future needs.