Department for Transport (DfT) Funding
We have submitted a bid to the Department for Transport for funding to carry out major repairs to roads and river crossings in the county. The bid has been undertaken as part of the DfT’s Challenge Fund and looks to secure around £5m for resurfacing and structural maintenance. It is anticipated that the roads leading to some of the county’s major bridges will be subject to increased usage in the coming years due to significant investment in housing, transport infrastructure and the construction of the Gedling Access Road, due to open in Autumn 2021. This investment has come from a number of sources, namely the County Council itself, the DfT and other Local Enterprise Partnerships and will lead to improvements in development opportunities along these routes and more efficient journey times.
This bid therefore is designed to ensure the existing network remains fit for purpose leading up to and including major river crossing points. The A6097 Gunthorpe and A612 Lowdham to Burton Joyce, plus the roads up to and over Lady bay Bridge in West Bridgford form the central focus of this bid.
The bid was submitted at the end of October and whilst the original December announcement was delayed, successful bids should be awarded in the early part of 2020 for delivery during the mid to later part of 2020 itself.
Also included were expressions of interest in further works for 2021 and beyond. These proposals include for additional works on the A38 between Sutton in Ashfield and the M1 plus the A617 Rainworth By-Pass, as a second stage to the previously successful resurfacing works on the A617 Mansfield Ashfield Regeneration Route (MARR) and parts of the A38 in and around Kings Mill Hospital which were carried out in the early part of 2018, also funded by the DfT’s Challenge Fund.
Details of these current bids can be found at the following links:
- DfT Challenge Fund Expression of Interest Form [PDF]
- DfT Challenge Fund Expression of Interest Map [PDF]
- DfT Challenge Fund Pro-Forma [PDF]
- DfT Challenge Fund Tranche 2B Application[PDF]
Safer Roads Fund
In November 2016, the Secretary of State for Transport announced a new Safer Roads Fund of £175m which covers the four financial years 2017/18 - 2020/21. The Fund is specifically targeted at delivering road upgrades and improvements to reduce the number and severity of fatal and serious injury collisions on the 50 highest risk road sections, based on the Road Safety Foundation's analysis.
The County Council, in partnership with Rotherham MBC, has submitted a Safer Roads Fund bid for funding to deliver road safety improvements along the A634 between its junctions with the A631 (Maltby) and the A1 (Blyth).
The Bid includes a number of engineering measures to address specific accident risks identified through the Road Safety Foundation's analysis. The measures included in the Bid are therefore based on the iRAP and ViDA road safety software assessments, as well as additional measures where these were felt to be more appropriate or practicable, based on local knowledge and assessment by experienced road safety engineers employed by the two highway authorities.
The proposed measures include:
- roadside barriers
- shoulder widening
- skid resistance upgrades
- shoulder rumble strips
- removal of roadside hazards
- lowering of speed limits
- installation of traffic signals, and
- central hatching.
The Department for Transport aims to make decisions on the outcome of Safer Roads Fund bids in the Summer 2017; and if the Bid is successful the improvements will be delivered during 2017/18 and 2018/19.
