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

  • UK’s Saltash Tunnel gets hi-tech safety upgrade
    June 4, 2019
    The UK's Saltash Tunnel is undergoing a major US$1.53 million upgrade to the incident detection system to provide quicker detection of vehicle fires and other incidents. The scheme will see close to 5,000m of cable installed inside the 410m tunnel on the A38 in the county of Cornwall in England. Overall design of the new system and integrated control systems are from PDS – Paul Ducker Systems – and includes smoke detectors from UK firm SICK Sensor Intelligence and SmartVision fiber-optic temperature sensi
  • Kenya rehabilitates, widens, tolls Northern Corridor
    November 8, 2017
    A massive highway project in Kenya will boost transport for the country as well as its neighbours - Shem Oirere reports. Kenya has commenced the process of rehabilitating, expanding and tolling of 657km of East Africa’s Northern Corridor that is anchored on the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and which links the gateway with landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and parts of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
  • Innovative new drainage solutions will help keep roads free from water
    October 2, 2014
    An array of new technologies will help optimise road drainage and minimise flooding risks - Mike Woof reports In the UK the specialist contractor Lanes Group has carried out extensive inspection work of the drainage systems for the M6 toll route around the city of Birmingham. A powerful zoom camera has been used to carry out the inspection work for Midland Expressway, which operates and maintains the 43km-long motorway, running from Coleshill to Cannock.
  • Driver feedback signs cut speeding
    February 15, 2012
    Technology from 3M is helping reduce the incidence of speeding in the UK city of Salford.