Road ahead for the Midlands Hundreds of millions of pounds of infrastructure projects due in the region
BILLIONS of pounds are being pumped into the West Midlands to improve roads, rail lines, schools and hospitals.
The Treasury has published details in what it calls the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline.
It is a list of infrastructure projects which have been confirmed, with the money allocated.
Here we outline the major schemes planned across the region:
Sandwell and West Birmingham Acute NHS Trust is getting a new hospital, with £297 million in public funding. Work began in March 2016 and is expected to be completed in October 2018.
Work on the Centenary Square to Edgbaston Midland Metro Extension, providing new stops at Brindleyplace and Five Ways, has begun. It is due to be completed in 2021 at a cost of £149.1 million, with £136 million in public funding.
Improvements to rail infrastructure in Coventry, connected to the planned regeneration of Coventry Station, have begun and are due to be completed in 2018, at a total cost of £66.4 million with £20 million from the Treasury.
A programme to upgrade the power supply on the West Coast Main Line began in 2013 and is due to be completed in 2018, at a cost of £186 million.
There’s extra funding for local authorities and schools to create new places and improve buildings, with the West Midlands getting £1.4 billion between 2015-16 and 2021-22.
A total of £125.11 million from the Treasury has been provided for flood prevention measures to cut the risk to 7,825 homes across the West Midlands. Work began in April 2015 and continues until March 2021.
There’s £86.34 million to improve and maintain prisons across the West Midlands. The programme is currently under way.
West Midlands Councils are getting £62.7 million from the Government’s “Challenge Fund” for road maintenance and street lighting, from 2015 to 2018.
Another £419 million is going to West Midlands Local Enterprise Partnerships to help them deliver improvements to transport set out in their Strategic Economic Plans.
There’s £61 million to electrify rail lines between Bromsgrove and Birmingham to allow electric trains to run. Work is under way and will be completed in 2017.
A £159 million scheme to improve rail infrastructure around Stafford began in 2014 and is due to be completed in 2017.
Replacement of two roundabouts on the A50 in Staffordshire with grade-separated junctions began in 2015 and will be completed in 2018-19. The cost is £43.2 million. A scheme to provide significant expansion of junction 6 of the M5 near Worcester, with improvements to approach roads, plus additional measures to improve capacity on junctions 5 and 7, began in 2015. It’s due to be completed in 2018-19 at a cost of £12.1 million.
A new junction linking the M54, M6 and M6 Toll is to be built at a cost of £200 million to £250 million, between 2018-19 and 2021-22.
Upgrading the M6 to Smart Motorway between junction 13 (Stafford) and junction 15 (Stoke south). Work begins in 2018 and will be completed in 2021/22 at a cost of £200 million to £300 million.
There’s up to £150 million to upgrade the M6 to Smart Motorway between junction 2 – the M69 interchange – and junction 4 – the M42 interchange. Work begins early in 2018 and continues to 2019-20. A package of improvements to roads overseen by local authorities, including the A457 Dudley Road, A45 Rapid Transit, A46 Link Road and roads in Etruria, Stoke, takes place between 2018 and 2022 at a cost of £176.3 million.
West Midlands councils get £57.30 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund between 2018 and 2020 for road schemes to cut congestion and encourage housing. These include us routes and cycle schemes.
West Midlands Councils are getting £14.1 million from the Government’s “Challenge Fund” for road maintenance and flood mitigation measures, from 2018 to 2020.
Work on the £137 million Midland Metro Eastside Extension, linking the city centre and Brindleyplace to the HS2 Curzon Street Station and Digbeth Economic Zone, begins in 2019 and is due to be completed in 2022.
A comprehensive upgrade of the M42 junction 6 near Birmingham Airport, allowing better movement of traffic on and off the A45, supporting access to the airport and preparing capacity for the new HS2 station, begins in 2019-20. The cost is £350 million to £500 million and there is no completion date yet.
Maintenance of Tame Valley Viaduct, which carries the A38 Aston Expressway near Birmingham, takes place between 2019 and 2023 at a cost of £91.56 million.
A £62.5 million road scheme in Worcestershire, including dualling of the Carrington Bridge section of the Worcester Southern Relief Road, takes place between 2019 and 2021. The aim is to ease congestion, boost housing and ease access to the M5 from key employment sites.
Grade separation of the Binley and Walsgrave roundabouts on the A46 near Coventry, and upgrading the trunk road sections of the A45 and A46 between the M6 and M40 to full Expressway standard, begins in 2019-20 at a cost of £50 million-£100 million. No completion date has been confirmed.
Introduction of a “Smart Motorway” system on sections of the M40 and M42 near where the motorways meet, as well as the introduction of all-lane running to the existing Smart Motorway section between junctions 3A and 4 of the M42, begins in 2019-20. The cost is £50 million - £100 million and no completion date has been revealed.
Additional capacity on junction 10 of the M6, including the replacement of both bridges allowing the widening of the roundabout to four lanes, has been partly funded through the Black Country Local Growth Deal. The current budget for delivery is £64.5 million, subject to planning approval work will begin in mid-2019 and open for traffic in 2021.
Major improvements to the junction between the M6 and the A556 in Cheshire will improve connections between Birmingham and Manchester. Work on the project, which will cost £30 million to £35 million, begins in 2019-20 and there is no completion date.