Over the past five years Highways England has completed 36 major
improvement schemes, including adding additional capacity on the
M20 in Kent, the M6 in the Midlands and in Cheshire. Around 20 of
the projects were opened ahead of schedule.
It has also completed 160 cycling improvements, reduced
flooding at 260 locations, reduced noise at more than 1,170
locations and improved air quality at 101 locations, and its
road improvements have helped unlock the building of 44,000
houses and the creation of 45,000 jobs.
Today’s plans set out how Highways England will deliver the
Government’s second Road Investment Strategy announced at the
Budget in March. The company will:
- Open more than 50 upgrades and save millions of hours by
improving journey times
- Invest almost £1 billion on broader projects to improve
roads for the communities they serve, such as conserving
cultural heritage or strengthening flood resilience, and
improving access for walkers, cyclists and horse riders
- Make 7,500 households quieter by tackling noise from roads
- Help stop the loss of biodiversity
- Develop a pipeline of around 30 schemes for potential
construction post 2025.
It will take forward flagship projects to connect key parts of
the country, including:
- A new road and tunnel under the Thames between Essex and
Kent, adding capacity and speeding up journeys between the
Channel ports and the rest of the country, which will improve
access to jobs, housing, leisure and retail facilities on both
sides of the river
- Upgrading the A66, creating the first new Trans-Pennine
dual carriageway since 1971, improving connections between
ports in Scotland and Northern Ireland and those in England at
Hull and Felixstowe.
- Improving the major direct route between the South East and
South West including a tunnel near the Stonehenge World
Heritage Site.
And it will deliver a series of major upgrades, such as
improving: access to the Port of Liverpool; capacity on the A19
in Sunderland supporting local plans for an international
advanced manufacturing park; journey times on the A38 with a
scheme for the Derby junctions in the Midlands while providing
extra facilities for walkers and cyclists; and the A12 in the
East, aligning with local authority development plans.
As much of the network was built over 60 years ago and needs
renewing the company will:
- Resurface nearly 5,000 lane miles of road
- Install or renew more than 1,000 miles of safety barriers
on motorways and dual carriageways
- Renew more than 170 bridges and other structures
- Invest £300-400 million replacing ageing concrete sections
on the A14, M5, M18, M20, M42, M54 and M56
It is laying the foundations for connected vehicles, digital
traffic management and enabling two-way communications between
roadside infrastructure and in-car devices that will
revolutionise inter-modal transportation and personal and
commercial mobility.
