Ribble Valley Conservatives have welcomed the announcement. Rupert Swarbrick, County Council Candidate for Longridge and Bowland says “It was pleasing to see that there are 16 road resurfacing, reconstruction, surface dressing and footway reconstruction projects in Ribble Valley valued at £1,385,654 to be delivered in the next 12 months.
The County Council has already outlined how it will spend most of its £45.8m highways budget on improvements to vital infrastructure such as roads, streetlights, bridges, and walking and cycling facilities. This is a £14m increase on last year.”
The Covid-19 pandemic delayed confirmation of the funding which the council will receive from the Department for Transport for the next year, leaving over £13.5m still needing to be allocated to specific schemes, and a report to the Lancashire Council's Cabinet has now outlined the proposed detailed programme of investment.
This includes £3.4m for resurfacing schemes to the busiest A, B, and C roads, £2.4m for resurfacing lengths of over 40 residential roads, and £1m to reconstruct pavements.
£3m will also be prioritised for repairing small areas of damage to 60 roads, where the repairs needed are too extensive to be treated as a pothole, but the rest of the road has not deteriorated to the extent that it needs to be fully resurfaced. The proposed schemes have been prioritised taking into account where repeated pothole repairs have previously been made, as well as being reported by residents.
A further £2.12m has been identified for further surface dressing schemes, where a 'tar and chippings' treatment is used to seal the road and protect it from moisture, along with anti-skid treatments and renewal of reflective cat's eyes.
£0.22m has also been allocated for resurfacing sections of rural 'moss roads' which need special maintenance due to the wet and peaty ground they're built upon, along with £0.62m for upgrading traffic signals, and £120,050 for repairs to a bridge.
Lancashire's highways infrastructure is vital to our economy and daily lives, ensuring that people and goods can travel safely and efficiently. And it is vital that Lancashire County Council continually invest in maintaining our highways to keep them in good condition.
