The work is part of the government’s ‘Road Investment Strategy’ to triple levels of spending on England’s roads by the end of the decade, which was announced last year.
Roads Minister Andrew Jones said: “As part of our long term economic plan, we are making the biggest investment in roads in a generation.”
£2 billion will be spent in the East of England and schemes due to start in the region by 2019/20 include:
- A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon major improvements in Cambridgeshire – this scheme, subject to statutory processes, will involve building a new bypass to the south of Huntingdon and widening some of the existing carriageway near Cambridge, as well as the A1 between Brampton and Alconbury.
- Upgrading six sections of the A47/A12 corridor in Norfolk across a 115 mile section of the A47 between Peterborough and Great Yarmouth. This will include converting almost eight miles of single carriageway to dual carriageway and making improvements to 3 junctions, relieving congestion and increasing journey time reliability
- Increasing capacity on the A1(M) providing an additional 14 lane miles to relieve congestion in Hertfordshire, including Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City
- upgrading technology at junctions on the M11 across Essex and Cambridgeshire, from Stansted Airport to Cambridge, which will improve safety, relieve congestion and support plans for additional housing. We will also improve junction 7 for Harlow to increase capacity
- Providing technology along the A12 in Essex and Suffolk from the M25 to Ipswich and widening the stretch between Chelmsford and the A120 to three lanes, adding 30 miles of additional lane capacity, improving safety, reducing congestion and supporting economic growth
- Providing a new 13 mile stretch of dual carriageway on the A428 between western Cambridgeshire and the north east of Bedfordshire, relieving congestion, improving safety and supporting significant levels of planned economic growth in the area
- Building 17 new cycle paths across our region including along parts of the A12, A47, A120 and A5.
£1.8bn will be spent on improvements in the Midlands and highlights include:
- Improvements planned for M42 junction 6
- New smart motorway around the M42/M40 interchange
- Development of a new link road connecting M54, M6 and the M6 Toll
- New, bigger M6 Junction 10
- Plans to replace roundabouts at A50 Uttoxeter
- Widening of the A500 at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent
- New smart motorway between M6 junctions 13 and 15
- Improvements planned for A46 junctions
- A new smart motorway between junction 2 and 4 of the M6
- Improvement for the A38 Derby junctions
- Widening of the A5 Dodwells to Longshoot
- A new smart motorway between junction 23a and 25 of the M1.
