Team Blitz India
LONDON: The Government will invest an additional £38.3 million into improving the safety of 17 of the most high-risk roads in England, the Department for Transport announced on March 19.
This comes on top of the £147.5 million already invested to deliver life-saving improvements on 82 high-risk roads across the country.
Over a 20-year period, this funding will see significant reductions in fatal and serious injuries, up to as much as a 30.8 per cent reduction on some roads, it said. Improvements will include designing new junctions and roundabouts, improving signage and road markings, new road surfacing and landscape management, improved pedestrian crossings and cycle lanes.
This round of funding is expected to save 385 lives over the next 20 years, as well as reduce congestion, improve journey times and lower emissions.
The Government is delivering a wide range of improvements across all roads, through the £24 billion Roads Investment Strategy, 30-point Plan for Drivers, and the biggest ever increase in funding for local road improvements thanks to £8.3 billion of reallocated High Speed 2 funding, the statement added. According to the Road Safety Foundation (RSF), it is estimated that all tranches of the Safer Road Fund will save nearly 2,600 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years. Once the whole life costs are factored in for the schemes, the overall benefit cost ratio of the investment is estimated at 5:3, meaning for every £1 invested, the societal benefit would be £5.30, the Department for Transport said.
