More than £160m is going to be spent improving roads in the South West over the next 12 months including the M4, M5 and A303.
National Highways (formerly known as Highways England) has announced plans to invest in more than 100 schemes across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall.
The £167m package of funding will be used to upgrade roads, pavements and bridges across the region. Other well-known roads included in the scheme include the A40, A36, A30 and A38.
National Highways said drivers, pedestrians and cyclists would all "benefit" from the planned works, which include road resurfacing, bridge joint replacements, the creation of cycle lanes, improved signs and landscaping.
Mark Fox, National Highways interim regional director, said: “Hundreds of thousands of drivers use our roads every day for work journeys, home deliveries and the movement of the goods and services, so it’s essential we keep them in a good condition to ensure safety and reliability.
“With this investment, National Highways will continue to deliver the essential maintenance and upgrades throughout the region to improve safety and help keep drivers on the move.”
National Highways will begin work on the programme of works in the coming weeks, with schemes including:
- M5 Junction 16 Patchway and Almondsbury Interchange deck refurbishments;
- M5 Junctions 20-21 St Georges Railway Bridge deck refurbishment;
- A36 Dundas Retaining Wall;
- A36 Bath to Monkton Combe drainage;
- M5 Junctions 10-11 Bamfurlong Lane deck refurbishment;
- M5 Junctions 13-14 Michaelwood footbridge replacement;
- A38 Chudleigh Station drainage improvements.
The investment into the region's roads follows on from a programme carried out last year which saw National Highways pump £200m into the completion of 121 road renewal and maintenance projects.
Over the past 12 months, National Highways said it had resurfaced 277 lane km (172.1 miles) of motorways and major A roads in the South West, using 221,177 tonnes of resurfacing material.
A further 84,948 road studs were laid to help light the way for drivers, 77kms (47.8 miles) of safety barrier were renewed, with 23kms (14 miles) of drainage improvements to reduce carriageway flooding and 36 new bridge joints.
The announcement comes just days after National Highways confirmed it had appointed an international group of construction companies to carry out controversial works to the A303 in the South West.
The £1.7bn upgrade of the road between Amesbury and Berwick Down includes a two-mile-long tunnel under Stonehenge.
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