Twenty five road schemes have been promised a share of £49M through Government's Local Pinch Point Fund. Many of the 25 new schemes are expected to be carried out in 2014 and 2015.

The announcement is in addition to 87 similar schemes announced earlier in the year.

In all, £266M has been awarded to local authorities since the start of the fund, allowing transport improvements worth over £511M to go ahead. Government says that the schemes promised funding to date have the potential of supporting 200,000 jobs and 150,000 new homes.

Areas benefitting from the 25 new roads schemes are Birmingham, Blackpool, Bracknell Forest, Cheshire West & Chester, Cornwall, Coventry, Cumbria, Darlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle, North East Lincolnshire, North Somerset, Northamptonshire, Oldham, Oxfordshire, Salford, Southend on Sea, Stockport, Warwickshire and Wolverhampton.

The Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association welcomed the news, adding: "For these benefits to be felt as quickly as possible, it is vital that these schemes are brought forward to market without delay.”

Department for Transport also announced on Friday that the scope of the £64M A1 Lobley Hill to Dunston improvement near Gateshead is to be extended. An extra £20M will be spent to provide additional running lanes to ease congestion.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin also gave the go ahead for a £37M railway line electrification between Wigan (North Western station) and Bolton (Lostock Junction). Work will be complete by 2017.

(Photo: Alvey and Towers)

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