Skip to main content

Government triples road funding

The UK government is tripling funding on the road network over the next eight years with more than US$40 billion to be spent on upgrading and improving the network until 2021. By the end of the next parliament, the government will be spending US$5 billion each year on improvements and maintenance for the strategic network alone. This locked-in funding commitment will support nearly 30,000 new jobs across the construction sector and at the same time deliver a safer, more sustainable road network that is fit
February 12, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The UK government is tripling funding on the road network over the next eight years with more than US$40 billion to be spent on upgrading and improving the network until 2021. By the end of the next parliament, the government will be spending US$5 billion each year on improvements and maintenance for the strategic network alone. This locked-in funding commitment will support nearly 30,000 new jobs across the construction sector and at the same time deliver a safer, more sustainable road network that is fit for the 21st century and beyond.

Roads Minister Robert Goodwill called on Britain’s road building companies to get ready for a massive increase in work. He said: “Funding certainty is critical to the construction industry in planning for the future and that is exactly what the government has delivered – with US$40 billion secure investment over six years and US$83 billion for the strategic road network over the next 15 years. However, we need to make sure everyone is ready to deliver the massive programme of investment that we need to keep Britain’s roads moving.

“To do that, we need to make sure we have the right people and equipment in place to deliver the 53 road schemes in preparation right now, plus the next generation of improvements over the next 7 years. This means taking on more apprentices and making sure suppliers have the capacity to deal with the increase in demand. If we get this right, this will provide road users with a high performing network that can cope with the expected 43 per cent increase in traffic over the coming decades that will help boost economy growth and deliver more efficient roads for motorists.”

Related Content

  • ARTBA president: what happened to the hoverboards?
    October 28, 2019
    What keeps Dave Bauer up at night? David Arminas caught up with the head of ARTBA at his Washington, DC office during daylight hours Dave Bauer doesn’t really have many sleepless nights. He might sleep, though, with one eye open, just in case. “We have become a much more divided country politically,” says Bauer, president of ARTBA – American Road and Transportation Builders Association. “Whether you are thinking about federal government, or state or local government, there’s a hostility now in our politi
  • NTTA: Diversity boosts access & opportunity
    November 3, 2021
    North Texas Tollway Authority has won IBTTA’s first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. But what made the organisation’s focus on disadvantaged, minority and woman business enterprises stand out?
  • Cooperative road infrastructures - progress and the future
    February 1, 2012
    Robert Bertini, deputy administrator of the USDOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, discusses the research and deployment paths of cooperative road infrastructures. High-level analysis by the US's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the potential of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure/Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (V2I/I2V) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) technologies indicates that V2V could in exclusivity address a large proportion of crashes involving unimpaired drivers. In fact,
  • Opinion: Infrastructure Act falls short
    December 16, 2021
    The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act has been passed, garnering applause across the political spectrum – but not everyone is excited. Scott Shepard of Iomob explains his concerns, and points to some unwelcome parallels with the recent Cop26 climate conference