£27 billion pledged to improve UK road network

HIGHWAYS England has announced an ambitious plan to help improve the UK road network and support a claimed 64,000 jobs in the construction industry.

The plans include spending £14 billion on projects to improve the quality, capacity, and safety fo the UK’s motorway network, with some major A-roads also sharing from this pot.

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Almost £11 billion is set aside for improving everyday journeys by repairing and replacing parts of the network, largely built in the 1960s and 70s.

Some of the schemes Highways England will be undertaking are:

• 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
• 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

Highways England Chief Executive Jim O’Sullivan said:

“Our network is a vital part of everyone’s life. It has served the country well during the pandemic, keeping supermarket shelves stocked and enabling key workers to get where they need to be.

“Over the next five years we will increase capacity where it is most needed and continue to upgrade more of the network which has suffered from decades of under-investment.

“We now have a strong track record of delivering new schemes and operating the network for the benefit of our customers and the communities we serve. The plan we’re launching today will protect and create jobs to aid the nation’s recovery, and make journeys faster and more reliable for freight and road users.”