Mac Gregor pledges pounds 2bn plan for roads
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Your support makes all the difference.BRITAIN'S biggest programme of road building was announced yesterday by John MacGregor, the Secretary of State for Transport.
In line with pledges made in the Autumn Statement, the Department of Transport will spend over pounds 2bn on new construction and maintenance of trunk roads and motorways in the year ending 31 March 1994. The department hopes to start work on 41 new schemes worth pounds 1.1bn that year, mostly road widening and by- passes, with the rest being spent on completing 51 current schemes.
Among the new schemes are:
The widening of the M25 in Surrey between junctions 7 and 8, and junctions 10 and 11, costing pounds 58m;
The widening of the M40 between junctions 1A (M25) and 3, costing pounds 55m;
Two widening schemes on the A13 between Heathway and Wennington, costing pounds 112m;
The start of the construction of the M65 round Blackburn, costing pounds 56m, and the A6M-M65 link, costing pounds 16m;
Transforming a 13-mile section of the A1 into motorway in North Yorkshire between Walshford and Dishforth, costing pounds 113m;
Widening and straightening the A66 trans-pennine road between Stainmore and Banksgate, costing pounds 11m.
Mr MacGregor said that by- passes round 12 towns and villages would be built - Burley-in- Wharfedale, West Yorkshire; Gargrave, North Yorkshire; Ashbourne, Derbyshire; Leadenham, Lincolnshire; Longton, Staffordshire; Terrington St John and Scole, Norfolk; Bedford, Bedfordshire; Norton, Hereford and Worcester; Iwade, Kent; Brockworth, Gloucestershire; Avonmouth, Avon; and Fraddon in Cornwall.
He said 100 miles of new or improved roads would open during the year. 'All schemes have, of course, been subject to full environmental assessment and have been designed sensitively, so as to fit into the landscape as closely as possible,' he said.
The announcement was welcomed by the British Road Federation, supported by the road construction industry.
Its spokesman, Andrew Pharoah, said: 'This is good news as every pounds 100m spent on roads creates 3,100 jobs, mostly for at least two years. And roads are vital to the economy.'
However, the programme came under immediate fire from environmental groups. John Stewart of Alarm UK, a coalition of anti- road groups, said: 'This is not a good way of creating jobs. A job on a public transport scheme such as upgrading the West Coast Main Line or improving London's Tubes costs around pounds 35,000 to create whereas widening the M25 motorway costs pounds 78,000 per job.'
William Sheate of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, said: 'With a single gesture, the Government's green credibility is thrown out of the window. The Department of Transport pays only lip service to the environmental costs of this accelerated road programme.'
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