Road spend approved for Liverpool City Region

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has approved a package of £25m to support 15 highway schemes that will make improvements to its key route network.

The network comprises the strategic highway routes that are vital to growth. Responsibility for it was devolved to the metro mayor as part of the city region’s devolution agreement with central government.

The funding will support highways improvements in all six of the combined authority’s districts, as well as upgrades to digital connectivity and bus routes.

Schemes will also include work to improve the condition of the roads, including tackling potholes, and to allow better traffic flow.

Steve Rotheram, Liverpool City Region metro mayor, said: “My key priority is to drive economic prosperity for the whole city region and ensuring that we have the right transport infrastructure in place is absolutely vital.

“We have carefully designed our key routes network investment programme to support the economic growth of our region.

“This latest wave of funding will improve the state of our roads and enable better traffic flow on key routes across our city region, bringing benefits for our residents, visitors and businesses.”

The investment is supported by the combined authority’s Single Investment Fund, funded by capital from central government’s Local Growth Fund 3.

The projects approved are:

1 LCR Intelligent Transport System: Merseytravel, £124,200

This type of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) application is the lynchpin for bus priority for the immediate future, as it is relatively low cost, non-disruptive and covert as well as being highly effective and adaptable to changes in technology. Bus service route 86 is the next application of this process after the trail has been completed for route 10 Liverpool to St Helens.

2. A57 Connectivity:Liverpool, £2.8m

Improvements will deliver four junction improvements at Low Hill, Jubilee Drive/Farnworth Street, Hannah Road/Holt Road and Shell Road/Beech Street. The scheme will include resurfacing at each of and between the junctions, seven controlled pedestrian crossing upgrades and bus priority measures.

3. Duke Street Bus Priority: Merseytravel, £103,500

This scheme will provide an alternate bus route from the city centre.  Removal of traffic calming and some loading and parking to facilitate vehicle re-routing. The scheme will allow Duke Street to become a bus route for a number of diverted services as a vital part of the City Centre Connectivity plan.

4. A562 City Connections: Liverpool, £3.1m

Improvements will deliver five junction improvements at: Great George Street, Catherine Street/Princes Road, Grove Street/Mulgrave Street, Crown Street/Kinsley Road and Lodge Lane/Tunnel Road. The scheme will include resurfacing at each of and between the junctions, and includes one upgraded crossing.

5. A59 Bus Priority Corridor: Merseytravel, £385,560

The County/Walton Road Corridor Improvements will deliver six junction improvements at Everton Valley, Kirkdale Vale, Barlow Lane/Spellow Lane, Harlech Street/Andrew Street, Hale Road,  and Queens Drive. The scheme will include re-surfacing at each of and between the junctions, and three upgraded crossings. The scheme will help to address punctuality and reliability issues.

6. Silver Jubilee Bridge: Halton, £3m

The grade two-listed structure requires funding to address a shortfall in the previous funding granted for its refurbishment.

7. Kingsway Tunnel Connectivity: Merseytravel, £3.1m

Improvements to the existing inbound/outbound routes to and from Kingsway Tunnel on the Wallasey side of the River Mersey at Bidston Viaduct. Improvements to include refurbishment of existing road drainage system, parapet fencing, road restraint systems, full depth road reconstruction to failed areas and resurfacing to  3km of carriageway.

8. Wirral Waters Safety Upgrade: Wirral, £327,000

The scheme will provide an essential upgrade to improve road safety on a critical section of the Key Route Network including the Wallasey Kingsway Mersey Tunnel, M53 mid Wirral motorway, Birkenhead Docks and Wirral Waters networks.

9. LCR communication upgrade: Sefton (Liverpool city region lead), £2.38m

To replace obsolete analogue communications at 324 sites on the key route network, which will cease to be supported from 31 March 2020, with a new digital comms platform. Also the Outstation Transmission units become unsupported from 31 March 2020.  This will provide reduced operational costs, improve future resilience and ensure that fault management and signal coordination can actively continue across the city region.

10. A41 Corridor Improvement: Wirral, £2.36m

The A41 New Chester Road, New Ferry Bypass and Rock Ferry Bypass carriageway reconstruction, replacement and renewal of street lighting columns and cabling and road restraint system. The area of carriageway to be reconstructed amounts to 7,428 linear metres of dual carriageway, 600 linear metres of viaduct and 1,270 linear metres of single lane road.

11.A557 Widnes Town Centre: Halton, £549,500

The scope of this scheme is to provide additional turn lanes to ensure the free flow of the Widnes Gyratory both into the town centre and to enable access to Fiddlers Ferry.

12. A580 Employment Hubs: St Helens, £2.67m

This scheme will deliver a major corridor improvement scheme along the East Lancs Road including traffic signal improvements and street lighting where required. There will be an off road cycle path.

13. A59 Port Capacity: Sefton, £2.36m

The improvements will widen the approach from Switch Island to provide three approach lanes including a full right turn lane into Dover Road, improved crossing facilities at the junction and a cycle link between Maghull and Switch Island.

14. M57 J6 Stonebridge Cross Access: Knowsley, £1.14m

By completing the previous partial signalisation on the southern section of this junction, and to complement the cycling and walking provisions being implemented on Valley Road/Bewley Drive though other LGF funding, this scheme will signalise the remaining nodes of the junction and circulatory to increase capacity, reduced congestion and support sustainable modes of travel.

15. Connecting Kirkby: Knowlsey, £700,000

The scheme will resolve capacity, air quality and safety issues through a junction remodelling, providing provide additional lanes and improved controlled crossing facilities, together with improvements to the efficiency andoperation of the traffic signals.