The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, has announced a further £1bn in funding for renewal and maintenance of bridges, roads and tunnels.

According to government statistics, approximately 3,000 bridges are currently unable to support the heavy vehicles, restricting access for agricultural and freight transport in regions, and reducing journey times. Specifically in England, the number of reported bridge collapses has risen in recent years.

The new ‘Structures Fund’ will fund repairs of bridges, roads, and tunnels and ensure other transport infrastructure is both more resilient to extreme weather events and to the demands of modern transport.

CIHT welcomes the creation of the ‘Structures Fund’ and the commitment of the government to enhance the resilience of transport infrastructure.

CIHT has previously called for calls for investment in maintenance of the UK’s existing highways and infrastructure to ensure the continued and efficient use of our transport network.

CIHT highlights that incrementally adapting infrastructure and proactively maintaining it is crucial for extreme weather resilience and meeting decarbonisation goals.

The CIHT report ‘Delivering a resilient transport network’ outlines that the changing climate is having a major impact on the UK ageing infrastructure. Flooding, higher temperatures, storms and severe weather are more common and accelerate failures and disruptions on the network.

The UK needs a more resilient transport network to ensure reliability for people’s travel and for goods deliveries. This requires future-proofing and maintenance of the transport infrastructure.

This newly announced funding package includes a further £590mn to take forward the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) confirmed to go ahead by the government earlier this year, with the remaining £410mn designated for other projects occurring over the ten-year period.

These investments come as part of the government’s impending 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, which will be published later this week.

HM Treasury and the Department for Transport are due to set out more details about how funding will be allocated. This funding is additional to the funding local authorities will receive for highways maintenance, which will be set out in due course.

CIHT looks forward to continuing to work with the Department for Transport and HM Treasury working to ensure that the nation’s transport infrastructure is fit for purpose in light on increasingly extreme climate events.