Government announces new £200m investment to boost England's road network

An investment of almost £200m is set to improve the conditions of roads across the country, Transport Minister Jesse Norman announced in York on Thursday (December 14th).

This newly announced funding will go towards repairing close to one million potholes, and will also be used for highways maintenance, developing new technologies to improve highways resilience, and cycle parks.

The £200m investment will see £46m help repair potholes; £151m improve the local highways maintenance incentive fund; a £500,000 competition for connected technologies; £4m for the Cycle Rail scheme and an extension to three cycle and walk to work pilot projects.

The Transport Minister visited York to see the progress of the pothole spotter trial and a new e-bike, which will be 11th vehicle to have cameras fitted to it as part of the pilot, which is also running in Thurrock and Wiltshire.

The trial sees high-definition cameras fitted to bicycles, buses and bin lorries to monitor road conditions. This provides councils with detailed information so they can fill potholes when they occur as well as plan resurfacing works and help prevent potholes and other road defects.

Roads Minister Jesse Norman said: “People need great roads to get about, do business and see friends and family. We’re investing record amounts at present to improve the condition of our roads, so drivers and cyclists don’t have to dodge potholes to travel safely.

“We’re also looking at how new innovations can help councils keep their roads in the best condition, saving money and planning their maintenance better.”

Almost one million more potholes will be repaired by highway authorities in England, outside London, thanks to £46m of additional funding, which is on top of the £75m Pothole Action Fund already given to councils this year.

The £250m Pothole Action Fund was announced in the 2016 Budget and will fix more than 4 million potholes by 2020/21.

The next round of the local highways maintenance incentive fund was also launched with £151m to reward councils for efficiently planning roads maintenance. This money is part of just over £6bn to authorities to help keep their roads in a good condition.

A new £500k competition will also challenge councils to develop pilot projects of new connected technologies for the collection of road condition and pothole data.

A further £4m will also enable the government’s Cycle Rail Programme to continue to be funded next year. The project pays for cycle parking built at stations and has seen bike journeys at participating stations increase by nearly 40%.

The pilot Cycling and Walking to Work fund will also be extended by six months, with Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Liverpool benefitting from a share of £1.6m.