Liverpool set to approve early delivery of £80m roads programme

Liverpool City Council is to meet on Friday to discuss speeding up its £80m roads investment programme by three years, moving the completion date to 2019.

The series of works to improve the city’s highways network were due to take place over the next eight years but if the council’s cabinet approves the plans the improvements will be completed within five years.

The first scheme on the A59 Walton Vale and Warbreck Moor has already been completed. Elsewhere, resurfacing of the area around Islington is set to finish in early September and on Ullet Road in early October, while work on Smithdown Road will start in September 2015.

Speeding up the programme is expected to deliver major savings for the city by reducing urgent and on-going highway repairs, which can often be more costly than a planned improvement programme and reducing public liability claims.

Funding for the work is coming from a mix of capital receipts, borrowing and external funding from utility companies.

Other areas of the city to benefit from the investment include:

  • Smithdown Road and Allerton Road
  • East Lancs Road
  • Walton Hall Avenue
  • Scotland Road
  • County Road/Walton Road
  • Kensington/Prescot Road
  • Aigburth Road/Jericho Lane

Separately, another £85 million is set to be spent by 2019 on highways projects, including a new city centre connectivity scheme, upgrading pedestrian routes around Lime Street and improving the A565 North Liverpool corridor.

The council receives around £3.5m each year from central government for the maintenance of its highways, including carriageways, footways, street lighting, and highway structures. This annual funding will be directed towards the on-going maintenance of roads not included in the £80m investment programme, such as unclassified roads, and B and C roads.

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, said: “We desperately need to improve the quality of some of the main routes in the city and that is why we are now set to press the accelerator pedal and do it much faster than originally planned.

“The damaged road surfaces and potholes in the city are a bugbear for residents, businesses and investors due to decades of underinvestment, and we want to take significant steps in putting that right.

“There are huge economic benefits to having well-maintained, high-quality highways. They keep traffic flowing, keep vehicle running costs low, and by ensuring people and goods can move efficiently, make our city a more desirable place to live, work, visit and do business.”

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