Transport secretary Grant Shapps has pledged to invest a further £1.7bn into the UK’s roads, railways and motorways to ‘level-up’ infrastructure
The £1.7bn infrastructure packages aims to improve journeys for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers across England through repairs to local roads.
Shapps revealed he would fast track construction works worth £175m to ensure networks get vital repairs while fewer passengers are using transport system.
The transport secretary also revealed plans to lock in environmental benefits seen during lockdown with vision to boost England’s charging infrastructure for electric vehicles over next decade.
The infrastructure package will target around 11 million nuisance potholes, enough to tarmac a road stretching a third of the way around the Earth. It will also see smaller improvements completed to upgrade local networks, such as enhancing road safety at key locations, the installation of priority bus lanes, and the creation of projects to help lock in improvements in air quality experienced during lockdown.
Accelerating infrastructure upgrades
Transport secretary Grant Shapps, said: “There has been a monumental effort in every corner of the country to slow the spread of the virus and protect our NHS.
“However, the battle is not over yet and we urge everyone to keep up the good work and only travel when they need to.
“To help those who do have to use public transport or get out on the roads to do their jobs, we’ve been accelerating infrastructure upgrades to make sure that, as we gradually reopen our society, everyone can benefit from smoother and safer journeys with better connections for our future.”
Major improvement works have already taken placetrans over the past month. England’s motorways and major A-roads benefitted from £200m of work carried out in April while some £550m of improvements and maintenance were also completed on the rail network.
