Following a number of major funding announcements in the last few weeks, Major Roads Director Peter Molyneux talks about what the funding means, and how together these schemes will begin to solve the wider connectivity puzzle.
In the last few weeks we’ve welcomed three major funding announcements – £40 million for the A1231 in Sunderland, £142 million for the Warrington Western Link Road, and a £300,000 study into the M65/A59 corridor, which will look at how we can improve road connections East-West across the central Pennines.
Whilst the importance of this funding at a pan-Northern level might not be immediately obvious, the projects are identified in our Investment Programme as key schemes for improving transport connectivity across the North and enabling economic growth and improving opportunities for all.
The £40 million funding our partners in Sunderland secured will not only reduce congestion for local people and unlock housing and regeneration opportunities, but it will also improve access to the Port of Sunderland and the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP).
The IAMP site is immediately next to the Nissan factory, and when completed will provide a world-class environment for the automotive supply chain and related advanced manufacturing businesses, creating around 7,850 new jobs.
Advanced Manufacturing was identified as an already strongly performing and internationally competitive sectors, which with improved transport links could drive further economic growth. So, in addition to delivering local benefits in the form of reduced congestion and unlocking housing sites, the A1231 will also enable IAMP businesses to trade and grow – both west across the rest of the North and the UK, but also internationally through the Port of Sunderland. It will also improve links into IAMP for Northern suppliers, so more small and medium sized businesses in the North can efficiently move their goods and services to their advanced manufacturing buyers.
More recently, our partners at Warrington Borough Council secured £142 million for the Western Link Road – another strong example of investment in transport delivering wider social and economic benefits. In addition to reducing congestion by 30% and providing an extra crossing for the Mersey and the Ship Canal, the road will unlock land for much-needed housing and improve access to the Port. The reduction in congestion will also improve air quality in the area.
With investment in Sunderland on the East coast and Warrington in the West, we know more needs to be done to improve East-West links between the two. Alongside Highways England, we’re working on a M65/A59 corridor study, which will consider how we improve routes across the central Pennines.
Today there’s an almost 250 mile stretch between Stoke and Glasgow where the only East-West dual carriageway road is the M62, which is understandably heavily congested and unreliable. This poor connectivity funnels freight and commuters onto the M62, slowing down the movement of goods and services and making it difficult for commuters to travel between some of the bigger economic centres in the North.
By improving East-West links we can reduce congestion on the M62, improving journey times, reliability, and air quality in the area. We can also ensure people and businesses have alternative and more resilient routes so that people can get where they need to go, and goods and services can move efficiently.
We know that improving connectivity by road is just one piece of a larger puzzle, which is why our Strategic Transport Plan and infrastructure pipeline is multi-modal – with an emphasis on improving East-West connectivity.
We’re delighted for our partners in Sunderland and Warrington for securing the funding. We know that investment in transport can unlock opportunity and we’ll continue to work on behalf of our partners across the North to ensure our infrastructure gets the investment it needs.