£90 million awarded to essential road schemes

£90 million of government funding has been allocated to upgrade four major roads schemes in England.

The schemes set to receive funding are the A350 Chippenham Bypass phases 4 and 5 in Wiltshire; the A647 Dawsons Corner and Stanningley Bypass in Leeds; the South East Aylesbury Link Road (SEALR) in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire; and the A127/A130 Fairglen Interchange in Essex.

The schemes are planned to to significantly speed up journeys, boosting the local economy, as well as improving links between the east and the west. It is also hoped the improvements will save businesses and road users hundreds of hours off journeys every week and deliver the government’s Plan for Change to improve living standards across the country.

On the A350 Chippenham Bypass, journey times are expected to be reduced by up to a quarter, with two sections of the road to be dualled and improvements made to the roundabout.

The improvements on the A127/A130 Fairglen Interchange will see enhancements to the interchange and surrounding roundabouts, serving thousands of drivers every day. It is expected that Basildon and Southend town centres will see growth and the scheme will also improve capacity for the route serving London Southend Airport.

The future of roads minister, Lilian Greenwood, said: "The UK’s roads are the backbone of a growing economy, which is why we’re giving these vital schemes the go ahead, helping deliver our Plan for Change.

"Economic growth has been stunted for too long, so we’re giving the green light and investing in vital schemes to help people get from A to B more easily however they choose to travel."

Michelle Gardner, deputy director – Policy, Logistics UK, said: "80 per cent of UK freight travels on roads at some point on its journey to the end user and an efficient road network is critical to enable business to drive growth across the whole economy.

"Congestion makes journey planning highly unpredictable which increases business costs through factors such as missed deliveries, unnecessary overtime, increased fuel consumption and inefficient fleet utilisation.

"The schemes given the go-ahead today show how even smaller-scale strategic upgrades can have a dramatic impact across the whole network. Upgrading the national infrastructure in this way makes supply chains more resilient and enables logistics providers to ensure that the right goods are in the right place at the right time – whether that is a factory, office, hospital or doorstep."