Major new developments include dualling the entire A303 and A358, including a tunnel at Stonehenge
An £15bn plan to triple levels of spending by the end of the decade to increase the capacity and condition of England’s roads, was announced to Parliament on December 1, 2014 by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander.
The government is investing in more than 100 new road schemes over this parliament and the next, 84 of which were announced for the first time.
Over 1,300 new lane miles will be added by schemes being delivered over the next parliament on motorways and trunk roads, aimed at tackling congestion and fixing notorious and longstanding problem areas on the network.
Highlights of the announcement included:
- South west: a commitment of £2bn to dual the entire A303 and A358, including a tunnel at Stonehenge. This will allow drivers to drive on a dual carriageway from London to within 15 miles of Land’s End. The last single carriageway gap on the A30 into Cornwall will also be dualled;
- North east: £290m to complete the dualling of the A1 from London to Ellingham, 25 miles from the Scottish border;
- North west and Yorkshire: completing the smart motorway along the M62 from Manchester to Leeds. £170m will be applied to the A57 and A628 trans-Pennie route, including a bypass for the village of Mottram. There will also be a study into the feasibility of a trans-Pennine tunnel;
- North west: improved links to the Port of Liverpool, as part of a plan of 12 projects designed to improve access to major international gateways, including an upgrade to the A5036 Princess Way;
- South east: £350m of improvements to the A27 along the south coast. This includes a dual carriageway bypass around Arundel, upgrading the 4 junctions on the Chichester bypass, and capacity enhancements to junctions at Worthing and Lancing;
- East of England: £300m to upgrade the east-west connection to Norfolk, by dualling sections of the A47. This includes the Thickthorn Roundabout on the edge of Norwich, the A47/A141 at Guyhirn, and dualling between Castor and the A1 at Wansford, west of Peterborough. Dualling of the remaining single carriageway section of the A428 between Caxton Gibbet, west of Cambridge and the M1, including a grade separated junction at the A1 Black Cat island. The A12 between Chelmsford and Colchester will have a third lane added too;
- London and the south east: improving one-third of the junctions on the M25. A £350m investment will be made to transform the A27 with a new bypass at Arundel. Port access will be improved around Dover and Southampton; and
- Midlands: improving the M42 near Birmingham airport, the National Exhibition Centre, the local enterprise zone and provide capacity for the new High Speed 2 interchange station. The East Midlands’ smart motorways will be extended, with the hard shoulder opened up on the M1 from junction 23A to 25, with a longer term full enhancement of the M1 planned. The A45 will also be dualled to the A14.
