Durham County Council will become the first local authority in the North East to introduce a Lane Rental Scheme when it goes live on Monday 19 October.
Under the scheme, charges of up to £2,500 per day may apply to organisations for works on traffic-sensitive roads or during specified peak periods to help reduce the impact of roadworks.
Through these charges, the scheme is expected to encourage those carrying out roadworks to plan them outside of peak travel times and complete them over a shorter period.
Cllr Tim McGuinness, Durham County Council's Cabinet member for rural, farming and transport, said: "The Lane Rental Scheme will help us keep roads open during the busiest periods while still allowing for important infrastructure works to be carried out.
'It will encourage better planning and coordination between organisations, ensuring traffic continues to move across the county efficiently.
'Any profits from the Lane Rental Scheme will also allow us to reinvest in our highway, with funding used towards road maintenance, traffic improvement projects, and innovative technologies to enhance how we care for the county's network.
'This is a great success story for our highways team and we're pleased to be the first authority in the North East, and among the first nationally outside of London, to adopt this scheme.'
The Lane Rental Scheme has been developed 'using detailed analysis of traffic patterns and congestion hotspots identified from the council's Traffic Sensitive Streets network', the council said.
Organisations will have opportunities to avoid charges by planning works for outside peak times, reducing the length of works or adopting less disruptive methods.
Image: Stephen Jones, Durham County Council's highway network manager (left) with Cllr Tim McGuinness, Cabinet member for rural, farming and transport.
