The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey found that the total carriageway maintenance expenditure across England and Wales in 2017-2018 was around £1.93 billion — an increase on the previous year’s £1.66 billion. The rising cost of highway repair and maintenance could be reduced by local authorities with the employment of simple preventative solutions. The survey, published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, also highlighted a gap of £3.3 million between the funds that local authority highways teams in England and Wales received in the last 12 months and the amount needed to keep the carriageway in ‘reasonable order’. One in five of local roads in the UK is now deemed to be structurally poor, meaning it has less than five years of life remaining. “Anything that represents a more permanent repair — rather than patching — is a good thing: the taxpayer benefits, the local authority can spend money on more road maintenance or infrastructure projects, motorists face fewer repairs to their cars, and the total economic impact is ultimately reduced,” said Jochen Bromen, Application Technology Manager, Asphalt Systems, at pavement reinforcement specialist Tensar. Following a winter of severe weather conditions, the Local Government Association claims that  funding “will provide just over 1% of what is needed to tackle our current £9.3 billion local roads repair backlog”. With these results, it becomes clearer and clearer that innovative approaches are increasingly needed to further safeguard the UK’s highways. “The technology combines the reinforcing function of a grid with the stress-relief and interlayer barrier function of a paving fabric,” Bromen explained. “This type of maintenance solution is simple and economical and can extend the operating life of a road, reducing whole-life costs.” Moreover, the survey also found a huge disparity between recommended frequency of road resurfacing work and the current reality. It is advised that resurfacing should occur every 10 to 20 years. However, the reporting of such activity has plummeted to once every 92 years in England. “By taking a whole-life approach to road maintenance and investing in the correct technology to extend their lifespan, local authorities will realise huge long-term savings,” concluded Bromen.

The Tees Valley Combined Authority has announced the delivery of a vital new road in Hartlepool. At a meeting of the Combined Authority Cabinet, members agreed to invest the cash into the £18 million scheme for Hartlepool’s Western Growth Corridor, which will provide an extra route into town and unlock land for housing development. The town’s Local Plan has set out the building of around 1,500 new homes, which is also leveraging at least £200 million in private sector investment into homes, infrastructure and facilities. “The new road, which is a key part of our Local Plan, will play a vital part in the continued growth and prosperity of the borough and unlock land for housing development. It will also substantially reduce traffic through Elwick and help to improve road safety,” said Councillor Christopher Akers-Belcher, leader of Hartlepool Borough Council and Cabinet Member for the Combined Authority. Hartlepool currently has only two main rod routed in and out of the town for the A19. The new road proposals would create a bypass for the village of Elwick and deliver an upgrade to the current Elwick North junction to the A19, in order to give a third route into Hartlepool. The funding from the Authority is set to be delivered from 2019 to 2021 and it is joined by an investment of £9.65 million from Hartlepool Borough Council. The Combined Authority will also work alongside Homes England to secure a further £4.18 million funding to drive the scheme forward. “This funding shows we are fully committed to this new road, which will unlock new, good-quality, affordable homes and vitally, make getting around safer, quicker and easier for years to come,” said Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen. “There’s huge change happening in Hartlepool where we’ve already invested £4 million for CCAD’s new campus and £5 million to revamp Church Street – but there’s so much more to do. The new bypass for Elwick is just another example of how we’re delivering for the people of Hartlepool.”

Graham Construction has been appointed by Cheshire East Council for the delivery of the Congleton Link Road scheme, which aims to start construction later this year. The 5.5 kilometre road will unlock key sites for housing and employment and provide an economic boost to Congleton, relieving traffic congestion in the town centre and improving east-west connectivity. The Jacobs designed single carriageway road will run to the north of Congleton between the A534 Sandbach Road in the west and the A536 Macclesfield Road in the north east. Construction challenges for the scheme include passing beneath Chelford Road in an area subject to a high water table. The plans will see the road being cut 8 m deep into mudstone in a 25 m high escarpment before crossing the River Dane on an 85 m long bridge and landing on a 12m high embankment founded on piled alluvium. There are also two other road bridge crossings and two underpasses. “This is a real coup for us and we are relishing the prospect of working with Cheshire East Council on this important project that will bring economic and social regeneration to the town and the Congleton area,” said Leo Martin, managing director of Graham Construction for civil engineering. Currently, the council is awaiting news on final funding approval from the Department for Transport in the hope the scheme can get the greenlight in November for a late 2020 finish. Half the cost of the project is being supported by the government and by a target of £24 million from developers, meaning that the council is left to meet a shortfall of up to £22 million. “This scheme will support the development of more than 2,400 homes and 50 acres of employment land to the north of Congleton with the potential to generate 3,000 jobs by 2035 and £13 million per year into the local economy,” said Philip Cox, chief executive of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership.

Business and community leaders in Allerdale and Copeland have submitted a bid for the area in order to host one of the four logistics hubs to support the planned expansion of Heathrow. The expansion project is expected to deliver up to £16 billion worth of economic benefits and create 15,300 jobs across the North West. “Heathrow expansion is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the UK construction industry, build for the future and deliver a lasting skills legacy for future generations. All of this comes at a pivotal time for our country, as it prepares itself to leave the EU and where we need to build for our future in both travel and trade,” said lord Deighton, Chairman at Heathrow Airport. The local bid has been led by Sellafield Ltd and supported by Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, Allerdale and Copeland councils, Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster, Workington MP Sue Hayman and Copeland MP Trudy Harrison. Eight expressions of interest in the region have made it to Heathrow’s long list, with 65 sites being considered nationally. A delegation from Heathrow will visit all longlisted locations by the end of the month to assess their suitability before narrowing down the list of areas it puts through to the next round. The delegation, joined by representatives of Sellafield, the councils and BEC Business Cluster, has already visited the former Alcan site on the A595 as an example of the kind of development site available in the area “It is very early days, but the Heathrow delegation were impressed by the levels of skills in manufacturing and engineering that we already have in West Cumbria, much of which is engaged in our supply chain at Sellafield. They were also interested to learn more about the capability that we are able to grow through the world-class educational facilities at Lillyhall, with the Construction Skills Academy, National College for Nuclear,” explained Jamie Reed, Sellafield Ltd’s head of corporate affairs, who also hosted the visit.

Four smart motorway projects worth £500 million are due to begin over the next 18 months in North West England. Over 100 miles of extra lanes will be developed across the region’s motorway, with work starting this summer on a three-mile stretch of the M62 near junction 12. Temporary narrow lanes will be introduced to allow contractors to work at the side of the motorway, and a 50mph speed limit will be needed for the safety of drivers and workers. The roadworks will be gradually extended to junction 10 by the autumn and the smart motorway scheme is due to be completed by spring 2020. Speed limits of 50mph will also be introduced between junctions 10 and 18 on the M60 later this summer as the remaining section of the North West’s first motorway goes live. Overnight resurfacing work will continue into the autumn on parts of the M60 once the smart motorway is operational. “Smart motorways have been proven to be effective at tackling congestion, with the smart motorway on the M62 in West Yorkshire saving commuters an average of 30 minutes each week,” said Mike Bull, Highways England’s smart motorways programme manager for the North.”We’ll be starting work on four new smart motorways in the North West over the next 18 months and will do everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum, including only closing parts of the motorway overnight when traffic levels are much lower.” The other schemes include a 20-mile stretch of smart motorway on the M6 in Cheshire, which will provide 40 miles of extra lanes for drivers by spring 2019. Work will also start in spring next year on a four-mile smart motorway on the M56 near Manchester Airport and on a 10-mile stretch on the part of the M6 that links the M62 near Warrington to the M58 near Skelmersdale. Additionally, a new 19-mile smart motorway will be created over the Pennines on the M62 between Rochdale and Brighouse. The route will link up with other schemes on the M62 to create almost 60 miles of smart motorway between the North West and Yorkshire, with construction work due to start in autumn 2019.