Skip to main content

UK government announces US$60.6 billion infrastructure spending

UK prime minister David Cameron and chancellor George Osborne have launched a year of major infrastructure investment, with US$60.6 billion of spending planned across 200 projects. Many of the projects due to start construction in 2014 and 2015 are key transport schemes, ranging across road, rail, local transport and airport infrastructure as well as flood defence schemes. These include the Mersey Gateway Bridge, Sheffield Lower Don Valley and Exeter flood defence schemes, major roads such as the M6 J
April 23, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
UK prime minister David Cameron and chancellor George Osborne have launched a year of major infrastructure investment, with US$60.6 billion of spending planned across 200 projects.

Many of the projects due to start construction in 2014 and 2015 are key transport schemes, ranging across road, rail, local transport and airport infrastructure as well as flood defence schemes.

These include the Mersey Gateway Bridge, Sheffield Lower Don Valley and Exeter flood defence schemes, major roads such as the M6 J10A-13, Nottingham tram extension, Heathrow Terminal 2 upgrade and Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm, which is currently the largest in construction anywhere in Europe.

These projects are part of the US$60.6 billion of planned investment – US$8.4 billion public investment, US$35.3 billion private investment and US$17 billion in joint public and private investment - in infrastructure across the country that could support over 150,000 jobs in construction and many thousands more in other sectors following completion. This includes the start of a US£64 billion programme of rail spending over the next five years.

In addition, there is expected to be further investment of up to US$25 billion in oil and gas this year.

Related Content

  • Colombia approves highway plan funding
    March 10, 2014
    Colombia has approved US$13.4 billion in funding for nine highway projects, part of a master plan to revamp and expand Latin America's fourth largest road network. All nine projects are part of the Autopistas para la Prosperidad program, which involves the construction of some 838 kilometres of two-lane highways, 63 kilometres of bridges and 90 kilometres of tunnels. The government also decided to finance directly the construction of Toyo tunnel, ruling out the concession framework for that project.
  • A better use for the UK’s commuter railways?
    February 4, 2015
    A new report by think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs looks at an alternative to expanding the rail network in the UK. The report, Paving over the tracks: a better use of Britain’s railways?, by Paul Withrington and Richard Wellings outlines how commuters could pay over 40 per cent less for their journeys and more passengers could enjoy the luxury of a seat if the industry was sufficiently liberalised to allow some commuter railways in London to be converted into busways. The success of the bu
  • Congestion-busting roads boost across England
    September 15, 2014
    A widespread congestion-busting road improvement programme worth hundreds of millions of pounds has now tackled 39 bottlenecks, with more than another 80 to be completed in the next seven months. According to the Highways Agency, the US$515 million ‘pinch point’ programme will cut congestion, increase safety and improve journey times and help support the creation of 300,000 new jobs and 144,000 homes. The improvement plans, part of the biggest programme of road enhancements since the 1970s, were dra
  • Sensor solutions cuts maintenance and emissions
    December 8, 2014
    The new raft of sensor technology can provide cost savings as well as additional functionality, as David Crawford discovers. Austria’s third-largest city, Linz, with a population of around 200,000, is recording substantial savings in its urban tram network within 18 months of introducing a new, high-technology approach to its public transport management. Tram, bus and trolleybus operator Linz Linien forms part of city utilities management company Linz AG, which has been carrying out a wide-ranging Smart Cit