Millions of pounds are to be invested to improve the 'most dangerous roads' in the north west - including a busy main road in Salford, near Manchester city centre.
The Department for Transport announced that £3.6million funding will improve the safety of five of the country’s most dangerous roads in the North West of England.
The works are part of a £47.5m national investment which is set to prevent over 750 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years, with £420 million benefit to society
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The A6042 (Trinity Way) in Salford will benefit from the latest injection of funding between the A6 (Chapel Street) and A665 (Cheetham Hill Road). Other roads to see improvements are the A586 in Blackpool, the A5105 in Morecambe, the A5038 in Liverpool, and the A625 between the A61 in Sheffield and the B6375 near Whirlow.
Through the Safer Roads Fund, these five roads form part of 27 new schemes across England, including the re-designing of junctions and improved signage and road markings. The programme is expected to reduce the risk of collisions, congestion, journey times and emissions.
To date, £100m has been provided through the programme to improve the fifty most dangerous roads in England, the majority of which are rural roads.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Britain’s roads are some of the safest in the world, but we are always looking at ways to help keep motorists and all road users safer.
“That’s why this £3.6 million injection for cities across the North West is the first crucial step to ensuring local councils have the support they need to keep everyone safe, while also reducing congestion and emissions.”
Part of a national investment of £47.5m to 27 different schemes around the country, the allocation has been based on data independently surveyed and provided by the Road Safety Foundation. The data analysed is based on a road safety risk, looking at data on those killed and seriously injured alongside traffic levels.
The previous rounds of the funding focused on treating the 50 highest-risk local A-road sections in England with enhanced road safety engineering interventions. The scheme is set to prevent around 1,450 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years.
According to Road Safety Foundation analysis, early estimates suggest that the £47.5 million investment should prevent around 760 fatal and serious injuries over the next two decades, with a benefit to society of £420 million. Once the whole life costs are factored in for the schemes, the overall Benefit Cost Ratio of the investment is estimated at 7.4, meaning for every £1 invested the societal benefit would be £7.40.
Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation added: “The commitment and funding announced today is transformational for road safety teams in local authorities across the country. It will allow them to proactively reduce risk and make these 27 roads safer and more inviting for all road users.
“Systematic changes have already had a big impact on road death and serious injury, for example seatbelts and airbags protect lives when crashes happen. In the same way we can design roads so that when crashes happen people can walk away, by clearing or protecting roadsides, putting in cross hatching to add space between vehicles, providing safer junctions like roundabouts or adding signalisation and/or turning pockets, and including facilities for walking and cycling.”
The news follows action taken by the Government to improve road safety, including banning any use of handheld mobile phones behind the wheel, updating the Highway Code to introduce a hierarchy of road users, placing those road users most at risk in the event of a collision at the top of the hierarchy.
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