DfT confirms £2m Crewe pinch point relief cash
Cheshire East Council's bid for the final piece of the funding jigsaw to pay for the A500 to be widened on the approach to the M6 has been successful.
The cash will be used to widen 600 metres of the A-road towards junction 16 on the Crewe side, with a completion date set for summer 2015. This will create an additional full length lane along that stretch of the A500, which will then taper into a shorter third lane.
This will help ease traffic congestion to the proposed Basford East and West development sites. These are strategic employment sites that are a key part in the council's vision to help create up to 12,500 jobs over the next two decades as part of the ambitious All Change for Crewe programme.
The latest win follows other successful bids for DfT funding by Cheshire East Council:
- £7.5m to ease congestion around junction 16, with the widening and installation of traffic signals on the A500 and M6 approaches to the junction
- £2.7m of local pinch point funding towards the Basford West spine road linking the A500 at Shavington with Gresty Road in Crewe, with work proposed to begin in summer 2014
- Up to £15.7m for planned Crewe Green Link Road scheme which will further improve access to the Basford development sites
Cllr Michael Jones, leader of Cheshire East Council, who is also chairman of the newly formed Cheshire & Warrington Local Transport Body, said: "We have been successful with all four out of four bids that we have put before the Government over the past few years and this shows that we are being taken seriously as a key conurbation for growth and development.
"We will continue to lobby the Government for funds to realise the Congleton link road and the Poynton bypass and any other road improvements in the future which will greatly enhance prosperity in Cheshire East."
