Millions of pounds to be invested to make roads across Essex safer
Almost £5 million is to be invested to make roads across Essex safer, the Government has announced. It comes as part of a £7.8 million boost to enhance safety on some high-risk roads across the East of England.
Essex, Hertfordshire, Southend-on-Sea and Suffolk will benefit from the investment, allowing improvement works to be carried out on four road schemes.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the investment was “the first crucial step” in making sure councils could keep residents safe on the road, as well as helping reduce congestion and emissions.
Funding has been calculated based on data independently surveyed and provided by the Road Safety Foundation. The data analysed is based on a road safety risk, looking at data on those killed and seriously injured alongside traffic levels.
According to Road Safety Foundation analysis, early estimates suggest that the nationwide £47.5 million investment should prevent around 760 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years, with a benefit to society of £420 million.
Once the whole life costs are factored in for the schemes, the overall Benefit Cost Ratio of the investment is estimated at 7.4, meaning for every £1 invested the societal benefit would be £7.40.
The four schemes in the East of England include:
- A104 Between the A121 near Waltham Abbey and the A121 near Woodford
- A5183 Between the M1 junction 9 and Downside on the edge of Dunstable
- A13 Between Seaview Road, Shoeburyness and the Essex / Southend-on-Sea border
- A1156 Between the A14 and the junction with St Helens Street and Woodbridge Road
Essex County Council will receive around £1,360,000 whilst Southend-on-Sea City Council will benefit from £3,425,000. Their allocation is the fourth highest among the investments, beaten only by Hampshire (£6,040,000), Newcastle City Council (£3,650,000) and Wiltshire Council (£6,980,000).
Minister Harper said: “Britain’s roads are some of the safest in the world, but we are always looking at ways to help keep motorists and all road users safer.
“That’s why we’re investing £7.8 million to improve road safety across the East of England and this is the first crucial step to ensuring local councils have the support they need to keep everyone safe, while also reducing congestion and emissions.”
Someone died almost every week due to crashes on Essex’s roads[2], the latest data has shown. Analysis by EssexLive showed almost 3,000 motorists were involved in collisions with dozens killed across the county in the last year.
The figures for 2021 include 38 fatal collisions – which means that for every 1,000 road traffic collisions in Essex last year, 14 involved a fatality.
Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation said: “The commitment and funding announced today is transformational for road safety teams in local authorities across the country. It will allow them to proactively reduce risk and make these 27 roads safer and more inviting for all road users.
“Systematic changes have already had a big impact on road death and serious injury, for example, seatbelts and airbags protect lives when crashes happen. In the same way, we can design roads so that when crashes happen people can walk away, by clearing or protecting roadsides, putting in cross-hatching to add space between vehicles, providing safer junctions like roundabouts or adding signalisation and/or turning pockets, and including facilities for walking and cycling.”
References
- ^ Read the latest traffic and travel news from across Essex (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Someone died almost every week due to crashes on Essex’s roads (www.essexlive.news)