Skip to main content

UK Highways Agency unveils additional spending plans

In the UKL the Highways Agency has announced plans for an additional 58 schemes intended to boost the economy, reduce congestion and improve safety. These schemes form part of the third, and final, stage of the Highways Agency’s pinch point programme. The 58 schemes represent an investment of €114.6 million (£98 million) and are intended to remove bottlenecks and keep traffic moving on England’s motorways and major A roads. They will be delivered by March 2015 and will bring an estimated €1.64 billion (£1.4
April 12, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
In the UK the 2309 Highways Agency has announced plans for an additional 58 schemes intended to boost the economy, reduce congestion and improve safety. These schemes form part of the third, and final, stage of the Highways Agency’s pinch point programme. The 58 schemes represent an investment of €114.6 million (£98 million) and are intended to remove bottlenecks and keep traffic moving on England’s motorways and major A roads. They will be delivered by March 2015 and will bring an estimated €1.64 billion (£1.4 billion) of economic benefit. This announcement brings the total investment for the 123-scheme pinch point programme to €370.7 million (£317 million). This includes an extra €116.9 million (£100 million) announced by the Chancellor in his 2012 autumn statement. Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin said, “The Government is committed to cutting congestion and accelerating growth – that is why the Chancellor injected an extra £100 million into the Highways Agency pinch point programme last autumn.

This third stage features 26 projects developed in conjunction with local enterprise partnerships and local authorities to promote local economic growth. They will improve access to nearby development sites such as enterprise zones and locally designated areas, as well as to international and national gateways. This includes improvements at Salford Circus in Birmingham. This provides access from the M6 to Birmingham City Centre and other important towns and developments. The scheme will reduce congestion. The remaining 32 schemes will install new technology to support the logistics industry and wider economic growth by improving driver information, signage and incident clear up times. For example, the Agency will install new electronic signs, CCTV cameras and a queue protection system at junctions 30 to 32 of the M62 – one of the most heavily used freight routes in England. This will help to improve safety, reduce congestion and give drivers more information about their journeys. The majority of schemes from the first two stages of the programme are in the detailed design phase with construction due to start soon.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Indra chooses Citilog for Silvertown Tunnel
    June 28, 2024
    Citilog will integrate its automatic incident detection (AID) system to help reduce congestion in and around the tunnel between the London borough of Greenwich, the peninsula area, and West Silvertown.
  • Innovative traffic information technology used in Vancouver
    February 23, 2012
    As the world descended on Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics, visitors were able to travel around the city with confidence and intelligence thanks to a landmark project by IRF Member, Delcan
  • Installation underway of first UK M4/M5 ‘superspan’ gantries
    July 4, 2012
    The installation is underway of the first superspan gantries on the M4/M5 managed motorway scheme. The existing gantries and infrastructure were successfully removed last month while the new steel gantries were being constructed, fitted-out and tested at a dedicated facility located near junction 17 of the M5, before being delivered to the works site. A total of 33 new overhead gantries, a number of which span 50m and weigh over 30tonnes, will be installed along the new managed motorway section up until T
  • New junction designs for Nairobi to cut congestion
    June 30, 2014
    New junctions could cut chronic congestion in Kenyan capital Nairobi – Shem Oirere reports Kenya plans to replace all T-junctions in the country’s capital Nairobi with acceleration and deceleration lanes to address a crippling vehicle traffic regime estimated to consume $580,000 daily. “We will replace the junctions with acceleration and deceleration lanes,” said John Mosonik, the principal secretary in Kenya’s ministry of transport. He said the acceleration lanes, which allow cars joining the main road t