England’s roads are receiving £27 billion over five years, proving that the Government is prepared to spend almost anything to ensure drivers can eventually reach somewhere else to complain about the parking.
Road Investment Strategy 3 promises to upgrade and future proof the country’s motorways and major A roads. The roads, having spent years ageing in public, are delighted to discover that deterioration has finally become an investment opportunity.
The programme includes resurfacing more than 9,000 kilometres of motorway and major A road lanes, fixing potholes and renewing worn out stretches. This is excellent news for the potholes, which have been promoted from roadside nuisances to named participants in a £27 billion national strategy.
The A66 will be dualled between Cumbria and North Yorkshire, while the Government will support private investment in the Lower Thames Crossing. Both projects are intended to improve connectivity and cut congestion. The nation’s traffic queues have been informed that their days are numbered, although nobody has said which days.
There are also 16 local road schemes, including bypasses, junction improvements and other projects intended to support jobs and new homes. This is where national infrastructure language meets the road outside the school, the supermarket and the house whose residents have watched the same temporary barrier become part of the family.
Officials say the strategy will deliver smoother, safer and more reliable journeys. The phrase has joined the official roadworks vocabulary alongside “short delay”, “temporary diversion” and “please allow extra time”, the last of which has now been upgraded from advice to a lifestyle.
The plan includes £8.4 billion for repairing and renewing motorways and major A roads before problems arise. This preventative approach is a bold departure for public infrastructure, where the traditional method has been to wait until a bridge acquires a personality and then organise a consultation about its feelings.
National Highways will face targets covering safety, journey reliability, network condition and environmental performance. Those targets will be monitored over five years, giving every cone, barrier and lane closure plenty of time to prepare a defence based on unforeseen complexity.
For now, the map shows a country being connected, resurfaced and strategically delivered. The only unresolved question is whether drivers will arrive before the roadworks become heritage sites. At that point the cones will not be removed. They will be listed, insured and quietly promoted to chief executives of the route.
Source: GOV.UK.
