Infrastructure client continues investment plan with £2bn spending in South-west
Highways England has met with suppliers and stakeholders to set out how it will spend £2bn on roads in the South-west.
The investment package includes improvements to a series of motorways and A roads in the region between now and 2021.
Works include upgrades on the A303 around Stonehenge, where Highways England is developing a scheme between Amesbury to Berwick Down, which includes building a tunnel, to improve journey times on the congested road and “improve the setting of the World Heritage Site.”
Other improvements include an upgrade to junction 23 of the M5 Bridgwater, which the government-owned company says will support proposals to develop around 5,000 new homes and create more than 4,400 new jobs.
Highways England says the work will also be key to the construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
Roads minister Andrew Jones said: “We’re upgrading key roads like the A303 and A30 and building a new junction on the M49 near Bristol.
“This will create a new strategic corridor to the South West and complete the dual carriageway into Cornwall so that hardworking families can have better access to jobs, shops and leisure facilities.”
South west works (£2bn) include:
- a new junction on the M49 at Avonmouth
- improvements to the M5 J23 at Bridgwater
- an upgrade to an 8.7 mile section of single carriageway on the A30 between Carland Cross and Chiverton Cross roundabouts
- development of a scheme on the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down route that passes Stonehenge, including building a tunnel
- dualling the A303 between Sparkford and IIchester
- dualling the A358 from the M5 at Taunton to A303 at Southfields
- investigations into the benefits of connecting the 2 dual carriageway sections of the A417 near Birdlip, Gloucestershire
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