Skip to main content

UK government to fund congestion-fixing road schemes

The UK government has approved funds to tackle congestion in two of the UK’s major cities, Birmingham and Leeds. Work needed to tackle congestion on the regionally strategic A452 road in Birmingham can now start after receiving final approval from Transport Minister Baroness Kramer. The road carries heavy traffic, creating poor access and a lack of reliable journey times for road users. The US$13 million improvements will improve the network, improve bus journey times and improve pedestrian and cyclist
October 25, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The UK government has approved funds to tackle congestion in two of the UK’s major cities, Birmingham and Leeds.

Work needed to tackle congestion on the regionally strategic A452 road in Birmingham can now start after receiving final approval from Transport Minister Baroness Kramer.  The road carries heavy traffic, creating poor access and a lack of reliable journey times for road users.  The US$13 million improvements will improve the network, improve bus journey times and improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.

Work can now start on the construction with the project scheduled to complete in spring 2015.

The Leeds Inner Relief Road has been given the green light and US$25.8 million of funding for major maintenance work that will keep traffic moving in the city.  The scheme, the full cost of which is US$40 million, consists of essential maintenance to three large highway structures on the A58M Leeds Inner Ring Road at Woodhouse Tunnel, New York Road Viaduct and Lovell Park Road Bridge.

Work on the viaduct and bridge has been completed early, meaning motorists are already benefitting from the upgrades.  Work can now begin on the Woodhouse Tunnel later this month, with completion due for 2016.

Related Content

  • UK government boosts road funding
    September 30, 2013
    Communities across the UK are set to benefit from government funding which will tackle traffic bottlenecks (pinch points) and congestion on local roads. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced US$129 million of further funding to remove these bottlenecks, US$40 million of which has already been awarded to fifteen improvement schemes. McLoughlin also announced he was inviting local councils to submit bids by the end of October for a share of the remaining US$89 million being made available.
  • Urban tunnel replaces viaduct, improves safety
    October 10, 2012
    Earthquake sensors, automatic barriers and real time monitoring systems are all part of a scheme to make a major Seattle traffic artery safer, by taking it underground. Huw Williams reports. Seattle’s metropolitan area of 3.5 million people, like much of the western seaboard of the United States, lies in an earthquake zone. In Seattle’s case, the city and its hinterland sit atop a complex network of interrelated active geological faults capable of severe seismic activity and posing complex considerations fo
  • Funding shortfall for US Interstate upgrades
    May 11, 2012
    Andrew Bardin Williams investigates tolling on the federal Interstate system as maintenance and upgrade requirements increasingly outpace funding The I-95 corridor through North Carolina is one of the most heavy trafficked interstates in the US, seeing upwards of 46,000 vehicles per day in some stretches-and North Carolina’s Department of Transportation (NCDOT) estimates this number will to rise to 98,000 vehicles per day by 2040. Along with the rest of the federal interstate system, the North Carolina str
  • US eyes European model for Illinois toll road upgrade
    May 30, 2014
    David Crawford welcomes the adoption of European-style ITS technology by the US. The Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in Illinois, US is well on the way towards becoming a ‘smart traffic corridor’, taking full advantage of active traffic management (ATM or ‘managed lanes’) technology that originated in Europe. It is one of the first American toll roads to do so; preliminary work began in 2014 and will continue through to 2016. Jane Addams is one of four toll roads operated by the publicly-owned Illinois State T