More by-passes
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FIFTY-ONE new road schemes — 25 of them bypasses — have been added into the English road programme at a cost of-011m.
The new roads, which include the widening of the M5 between Junctions 6 and 8 between Hereford and Worcester were announced last week by Transport Minister Lynda Chalker.
The widening scheme on the M5 will cost £20m over a length of 12 miles.
Other major schemes announced in the new programme include the £32m Wigan by-pass, The M6 is being widened at a cost of £18,5m between Junctions 20 and 21A in Cheshire, while two climbing lanes are being added to the M62, one eastbound and one westbound.
Mrs Chalker said the latest review of the national road programme was one aimed at meeting the changing demands of traffic. As well as adding to the national programme, she has thoroughly reviewed the existing commitments.
She said she was delighted with the excellent progress that was being made with road construction; the key to the continued success lay in efficient management and in the relentless search for better value for money, Since July 1983, 168 miles of new or improved road have been added to the national network including 68 miles of motorway and 16 by-passes, One hundred miles of the M25 will be open to traffic by the end of this summer and the remaining 21 miles are well on target for completion by the end of next year.
Planned spending on the national road network this year will be £824m, of which £600m will be spent on new construction and improvement and a further £144m on structural renewal.
The National Roads England report now has 343 schemes in the programme and a sharply reduced number of projects on which preparation work is still suspended,
"1 am delighted with the excellent progress that we are making with road construction," Mrs Chalker told the press last week. "Many of the schemes have been completed well ahead of schedule.
Mrs Chalker's announcement came with the publication of the report National Roads England 1985, available from the Department of Transport at 17.