Motorways and A-roads to benefit from £200m injection amid staycation boom
The government is set to inject £200m into improving motorways and major A-roads in the southwest of England, so Brits can have smoother rides to see long-missed families.
Now domestic travel restrictions have eased, Brits are well on their way to seeing the family and friends they had missed over the previous 15 months of lockdown, while also partaking in the UK’s staycation boom.
Highways England invested a similar figure in the southwest last year, as it forms part of the government’s plan to level up transport regions post-Brexit.
The M4, M5, A40 and A38 are due to receive road resurfacing and maintenance, improved signage and landscaping – and even some cycle lanes.
Brits across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and Northeast Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall will reap the benefits of freshly tarmacked surfaces and safer cycling routes.
This is in addition to the multi-million A30 dualling scheme in Cornwall and A303 dualling scheme in Sparkford which are both under construction, the government said in a statement.
“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,” Highways England regional director Andrew Page-Dove said.
Highways England resurfaced nearly 200 miles of road throughout the region from April 2020 to March this year – the equivalent of nearly 16,000 double-decker buses parked back-to-back.