Govt commits £3.6m to improve North West roads

Roads in Blackpool, Liverpool, Morecambe, and Salford are set for safety improvements under the latest round of funding from the Department for Transport.

The money comes from DfT’s Safer Roads Fund and will go towards improving four roads in the North West:

• A586 in Blackpool between A584 and A587
• A5038 in Liverpool between A59, A562 and A5047
• A5105 between the A6 and the A589 in Morecambe
• A6042 in Salford between A6 and A665

Safety upgrades for these roads will include redesigning junctions and improving the signage and road markings. The DfT hopes that this will help reduce collisions and congestion.

The £3.6m received for roadwork in the North West is part of a larger £47.5m announcement that goes towards 27 different projects, including £1.4m for the A625 in Sheffield.

Blackpool Council received £1.1m for the A586. Liverpool City Council was awarded £859,375. Lancashire County Council was given £920,000. Salford City Council received £743,750.

Dr Suzy Charman, executive director of the Road Safety Foundation described the government’s funding boost as a “transformation for road safety teams in local authorities across the country”.

She added: “Systematic changes have already had a big impact on road death and serious injury, for example, seatbelts and airbags protect lives when crashes happen.

“In the same way, we can design roads so that when crashes happen people can walk away, by clearing or protecting roadsides, putting in cross-hatching to add space between vehicles, providing safer junctions like roundabouts or adding signalisation and/or turning pockets, and including facilities for walking and cycling.”