Mayor sets out £11.7m plans for road and rail links

A MAYOR is set to bring forward proposals for an £11.7m plan to boost transport links.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen hopes to improve road and rail links to the Teesworks site.

The plans will be discussed at Combined Authority Cabinet today.

The cash will be used to partfund improvements to make sure that getting to and from the UK’s largest Freeport for both freight and people is as smooth and easy as possible.

Work is needed to deliver improvements on the Eaglescliffe to Northallerton rail line, where low bridges and tunnels currently restrict the size of cargo containers that can be used. A project would see two tunnels and two bridges improved so that larger containers can use the more direct route heading south to the East Coast Main Line.

The A66 provides a key eastwest connection between Teesport and the A19 and the A1(M), and is used by more than 70,000 vehicles a day on its busiest sections. Funding here would be used to upgrade parts of the route to make it fit for the future.

If approved £11.7m would be used as a local contribution to these key schemes, with the remaining funding being sought from a £20m bid to Government’s Levelling Up fund and a £1.5m contribution from Middlesbrough Council.

Mr Houchen said: “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform the Teesworks site and create thousands of good-quality, well-paid jobs for local people for generations to come.

“We’re already forging ahead with investment, with the likes of GE Renewable Energy bringing its mammoth offshore wind turbine blade manufacturing facility to the UK’s biggest Freeport, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“But in capitalising on the Freeport and to make sure it really turbocharges our economy, we can’t be let down by poor transport links. We’ll be seeing a massive amount of activity on the site over the coming years.”