Transport Secretary gives go-ahead to new schemes and over £600 million more funding
Major upgrades which will relieve congestion at a variety of places across the country.
Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, gave a major boost to the UK economy today by announcing the go-ahead for a further 16 road and public transport schemes.
Along with the 8 schemes announced by the Chancellor last week, work will therefore begin on a total of 24 schemes as a result of the Department for Transport’s spending review settlement.
The schemes given the green light today, subject to statutory processes, will deliver major upgrades to relieve congestion at the following locations either through widening or managed motorways schemes:
- M60 Junctions 8 - 12
- M1 Junctions 32 - 35a
- M60 Junctions 12 - 15
- M1 Junctions 39 - 42
- M62 Junctions 18 - 20
- M25 Junctions 5 - 6/7
- M25 Junctions 23 - 27
- M6 Junctions 5 - 8
- A556 Knutsford - Bowdon
The following key local infrastructure projects were also confirmed, subject to a best and final offer from local authorities:
- a new single carriageway bypass which will ease congestion in Sefton and improve access to the region’s motorway network
- an integrated package of sustainable transport improvements in Ipswich including improved bus facilities and walking and cycling routes
- improvements to M5 J29, east of Exeter, providing access to new housing and employment areas
- a bypass to the north of Lancaster, connecting the port of Heysham to the M6
- improvements on the A57 east of M1 J31, near Todwick
- a new road in Taunton to provide additional cross-town capacity and access to areas of brownfield land
- a new bus station and associated transport improvements in Mansfield
In addition, the Transport Secretary and councils will be challenged to consider the cost, scope and possibility of local funding when bidding.
The government believes this competitive process will ensure that the greatest possible number of schemes, with the best value for money, will be able to proceed, facilitating economic growth and providing jobs across the country.
Philip Hammond said:
Whilst we have had to make some tough choices, I am pleased that spending on transport was treated as a priority for the government in the spending review.
This government sees transport as a key driver of growth nationally and in the regions. So I am delighted to be able to give the green light to 24 new transport projects and a fund worth over £600 milllion for many more schemes to bid for.
Taken together, this investment will not only bring benefits in terms of reduced congestion, shorter journey times and more efficient public transport, but also provide a vital economic boost. For every pound we spend on Highways Agency schemes, on average we will get back £6 of benefits and in many cases there are even higher returns for local authority schemes.
Transport is vital to securing the UK’s long term prosperity. That is why these schemes are so important and why I will continue to argue for investment which delivers long term benefits for both the travelling public and the economy as a whole.
The government also announced that the Highways Agency will continue work on developing a further 14 schemes in preparation for them to start in future spending review periods, as funding becomes available, and will review the design of a further 4 with the aim of finding a best value solution.
Notes to editors
The following major road schemes have been given the green light, subject to statutory processes, as a result of the spending review settlement:
- the A11 in Norfolk - dualling the ‘missing link’ of single carriageway, between Fiveways junction and Thetford
- the M4 and M5 north of Bristol - fixing the worst congestion spot in the south-west, and easing journeys to Wales
- the M1 in Derbyshire (junctions 28-31) - improving access to Sheffield using managed motorways technology
- the A23 Handcross to Warninglid in Sussex - dealing with a key bottleneck between London and Brighton
- the M62 near Leeds (junctions 25-30) - adding capacity between Yorkshire and the north-west using managed motorways
- M60 Junctions 8-12 - provision of dynamic hard shoulder running on the 3.9-mile stretch of the M60 Manchester orbital motorway between junctions 8 and 12 adjacent to the Trafford Centre shopping mall
- M1 Junctions 32-35a - provision of dynamic hard shoulder running on the M1 motorway between junctions 32 and 35a serving South Yorkshire and in particular the urban areas of Sheffield and Leeds
- M60 Junctions 12-15 - provision of an additional lane to the anti-clockwise carriageway of the M60 Manchester orbital motorway covering the 3 miles between junctions 15 and 12.
- M1 Junctions 39-42 - provision of dynamic hard shoulder running on the M1 motorway between junctions 39 and 42 serving south Yorkshire and in particular the urban areas of Wakefield and Leeds - the scheme also connects to the M62 at Junction 42
- M62 Junctions 18-20 - provision of dynamic hard shoulder running on the 5-mile stretch of the M62 between junctions 18 and 20 which connects to the M60 Manchester orbital motorway at Junction 18
- M25 Junctions 5-6/7 - this scheme will provide additional capacity using hard shoulder running on the southern segment of the M25 running from the M23 to the M26
- M25 Junctions 23-27 - this scheme will provide additional capacity using hard shoulder running on the northern segment of the M25 running from the A1M to the M11.
- M6 Junctions 5-8 - this scheme will provide additional capacity through hard shoulder running within the existing highway boundary on 9.7 miles of the M6 from junction 5 at Castle Bromwich in the south to Junction 8 Ray Hall in the north
- A556 Knutsford - Bowdon - The upgrade of a 4 mile link between the M6 junction 19 and the M56 junction 7 from 4 lane single carriageway to dual carriageway standard
The following local infrastructure projects - the ‘supported group’ - have been confirmed, subject to a best and final offer from local authorities as a result of the spending review settlement:
- Thornton to Switch Island link
- Taunton Northern Inner distributor road
- Heysham to M6 link road
- Leeds Station southern access
- East of Exeter package
- A57 M1 to Todwick crossroads
- Mansfield public transport interchange
- Ipswich Fit for the 21st Century
- Mersey Gateway bridge
- Midland Metro extension
- Subject to these offers from local authorities being acceptable, funding will be confirmed in January 2011.
A pot of over £600 million will be available to fund further local authority projects. The department will conduct some further analysis on the following schemes - the ‘development group’ - and invite best and final funding bids from this pot:
- Waverley link road (Rotherham)
- Beverley integrated Transport Plan
- Bedale-Aiskew-Leeming Bar bypass (norh Yorkshire)
- Norwich Northern distributor road
- Bristol Bus rapid transit Ashton Vale to Temple Meads
- Loughborough town centre transport scheme
- Leeds rail growth package
- Nottingham ring road
- Access York park & ride
- Weston-Super-Mare package
- Bath transportation package
- White Rose Way improvement (Doncaster)
- Rochdale interchange
- Crewe Green link southern section
- Sunderland strategic corridor
- A18-A180 link
- Manchester cross city bus
- Pennine Reach (east Lancashire rapid transit)
- Sheffield Supertram additional vehicles
- Hucknall town centre improvement (Northamptonshire)
- Leeds New Generation Transport
- Bexhill to Hastings link road
- Final decisions will be made by the end of 2011.
Department for Transport will undertake further analysis of the following schemes - the ‘pre-qualification group’, which either need updated appraisal or have not yet been fully evaluated - by January 2011 to determine which of them can enter the development group:
- A509 Isham Bypass (Northamptonshire)
- Watford Junction Interchange
- A43 Corby link road
- Northern Gateway (North Tyneside)
- Luton Town centre transport scheme
- Sunderland Central route
- Darlaston strategic development area access project (Walsall)
- Camborne-Pool-Redruth transport package
- Castleford town centre integrated transport scheme
- A24 Ashington to Southwater improvement (West Sussex)
- A164 Humber Bridge to Beverley Improvement
- Northern Road bridge
- Kingskerswell bypass (South Devon link road)
- South Bristol link phases 1 and 2
- Worcester integrated transport strategy
- Chester road access improvements
- Lincoln eastern bypass
- South Yorkshire bus rapid transit phase 1 (northern route)
- Morpeth northern bypass
- Tipner interchange (Portsmouth)
- Coventry-Nuneaton rail upgrade
- A61 Penistone road smart route (Sheffield)
- South Essex rapid transit
- Bristol bus rapid transit north fringe to Hengrove
- Croxley rail link (Hertfordshire)
- Stafford western access improvements
- Elmbridge transport (Gloucestershire)
- Tyne & Wear bus corridor improvement - phase 1
- A338 Bournemouth spur road maintenance
- Evesham bridge maintenance (Worcestershire)
- A45 westbound bridge maintenance (Solihull)
- A38(M) Tame viaduct maintenance (Birmingham)
- London Road bridge maintenance (Derby)
- Leeds inner ring road maintenance
The level of funding required for schemes already under construction is such that it is unlikely that any new schemes will be able to begin construction before 2012 to 2013
The department will consider the following 3 schemes with conditional approval for full approval and will set out specific requirements with each promoter bilaterally:
- Walton bridge (Surrey)
- Reading station highway works
- Isles of Scilly link
- The department will look carefully at the costs and scope of each scheme and explore possibilities to reduce costs and increase local contributions - we hope to agree a way forward on funding by January 2011 but this will be dependent on progress on these issues
The department cannot at this point consider any new local authority schemes other than those in the above groups.
Additionally, the Highways Agency has in development 18 major road schemes. Given the current assumptions, it will not be possible for these schemes to enter construction until at least 2015. We will continue work on 14 of these schemes with the aim of starting construction after 2015:
- M1/M6 junction 19 improvement
- M25 junction 30
- M6 junctions 10a - 13
- A14 Kettering bypass
- A160/A180 Immingham
- A19 Testos
- A19/A1058 coast road junction
- A21 Tonbridge - Pembury
- A27 Chichester bypass
- A38 Derby junctions
- A45/A46 Tollbar End
- A453 widening
- A5-M1 link road
- A63 Castle Street
A further 4 schemes will be reviewed, to ensure the design is the best possible, and to see if there are better ways to sequence the work:
- M20 Junction 10a
- M3 Junctions 2 - 4a
- M4 Junctions 3 - 12
- M54 to M6/M6 toll link road
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