The government has launched a plan to upgrade the UK’s local A-roads and tackle congestion.
The Transport investment strategy sets out a new long-term approach for government infrastructure spending — meaning cash will be targeted at projects that help rebalance the economy.
And it features the proposed creation of a new major road network, which would see a share of the annual National Road Fund, funded by VED, given to local authorities to improve or replace the most important A roads under their management.
The plans aim to improve productivity and connectivity of towns and cities across the country — tackling bottlenecks and traffic jams for road users, and taking away the misery of lorries and through-traffic thundering through rural villages on main roads.
The scheme will also aim to help people get to work or school by better connecting towns and cities, unlock land for new homes, and improve business links — forming a crucial strand of the government’s strategy to rebalance the economy by ensuring wealth is spread across the UK and not just concentrated in the south-east of England.
The proposals for the major road network respond to the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund study last year, which highlighted the disparity between the funding and planning of Britain’s motorways — the strategic road network — and local authority A roads.
The new plans mean that main roads currently overseen by local authorities would share the VED funded National Roads Fund which was previously envisaged to be ring-fenced for national routes. UK VED was £5.8 billion for 2016-17.
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