The UK Government has confirmed it is to invest £15bn to improve the condition of roads throughout England.

The 'Road Investment Strategy' was announced by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander today, Monday.

The government is to invest in more than 100 new road schemes, 84 of which are brand new.

Over 1,300 new lane miles will be added by schemes being delivered over the next parliament on motorways and trunk roads, tackling congestion and fixing some of the most notorious and longstanding problem areas on the network.

The plans include £1.5bn of investment to add an extra lane onto key motorways to turn them into smart motorways, boosting connectivity between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Yorkshire.

Mr McLoughlin said: "Today I am setting out the biggest, boldest and most far-reaching roads programme for decades. It will dramatically improve our road network and unlock Britain's economic potential.

"Roads are key to our nation's prosperity. For too long they have suffered from under-investment.


"This government has a long term plan to secure the country's future and this £15 billion roads programme is demonstration of that. Better roads allow us to travel freely, creating jobs and opportunities, benefiting hardworking families across the country."

New projects announced include:

• South west: A commitment of £2bn to dual the entire A303 and A358 to the south west, including a tunnel at Stonehenge. This will allow roads users to drive on a dual carriageway from London to within 15 miles of Land's End

• North east: Setting aside £290m to complete the dualling of the A1 all the way from London to Ellingham, just 25 miles from the Scottish border, to make the Great North Road truly great again

• North west and Yorkshire: Driving forward the northern powerhouse by completing the smart motorway along the entire length of the M62 from Manchester to Leeds, together with improvements to transpennine capacity from Manchester to Sheffield, representing the first increase in transpennine capacity since 1971

• North west: Committing to improve links to the Port of Liverpool, as part of a plan of 12 projects designed to improve access to major international gateways on which the nation's international trade depends

• South east: Funding £350m of improvements to the A27 along the south coast, tackling severe congestion at Arundel, Worthing and Lewes – consulting with the local community on options

• East of England: Investing £300m to upgrade the east-west connection to Norfolk, by dualling sections of the A47 and improving its connections to the A1 and A11, building on the recently completed full dualling of the A11 from London to Norwich, to ensure the east of England has the connections it deserves

• London and the south east: Improving one-third of the junctions on the entire M25, to aid frustrated commuters stuck in traffic around the capital

• midlands: improving the M42 to the east of Birmingham, improving the connectivity to Birmingham airport, the National Exhibition Centre, the local enterprise zone, and pave the way for the new High Speed 2 interchange station.

(CD/JP)