The improvements to the M4 and M5/A30 will unlock the development of more than 3,300 homes and create more than 6,000 jobs for people living in Swindon, Exeter and Weston-super-Mare.
The Transport Secretary also announced a £2.5m scheme on the A1 that will boost economic growth in Darlington in the North East.
Highways England is investing more than £11m in these four schemes from its Growth and Housing Fund, with private sector developer contributions making up the rest.
The £100m fund is extra to the Government’s £15bn investment in roads to 2020, and helps with the cost of road improvements needed for new developments that promise swift delivery of homes and jobs.
Four new road projects to unlock housing schemes
£5m for improvements to the intersection of the M4 Junction 15 and the A419 near Swindon to unlock one of the largest housing and commercial developments in the country. Construction of the scheme will start in 2018.
£4.5m to deliver the A30 / M5 J29 Tithebarn Link Road, which will release three housing and employment sites at the strategically important intersection of the A30 / A303 and the M5 to the east of Exeter. The scheme comprises a new cycle bridge over the M5 and a new link road connected to the M30. The scheme is supported by £4.6m developer contribution and will open in March 2019.
£750,000 funding to improve the northbound M5 at Junction 21, near Weston-super-Mare. This will help support the ‘Weston Villages’ develop 6,000 new houses to the west of the M5 at Junction 21. Developers are investing £450,000 and the scheme will be completed in 2018.
£1m to improve junction 58 of the A1(M) at Darlington, unlocking two development sites which could see the construction of 1,200 homes. The work, which is due to complete in 2017, will include improvements to the A68 Rotary Way roundabout and the West Park Garden Village Link Road. The scheme will be delivered in March 2018 and is supported by £1.46m contributions from the developer.
Jim O’Sullivan, Highways England Chief Executive, said: “The improvements we are announcing today are necessary to accommodate the extra journeys the developments will create but without the Government investment they would not have been viable.
“We will continue to use our Growth and Housing Fund and work with a range of local stakeholders to unlock further development sites around the country.”
