Highways programme approved to help move Hertfordshire forward

Hertfordshire County Council has given the go ahead to £46 million worth of highways schemes.

Between April 2020 and March 2021 over £46 million will be spent delivering nearly 1,500 maintenance and improvement schemes across Hertfordshire’s 3,000 miles of road.

Planned works include repairs and maintenance to roads, pavements, bridges and traffic signals, as well as improvements such as tackling safety problems, reducing traffic congestion, and making walking and cycling more practical and attractive.

The highways funding includes £8 million which the county council is spending on improving the condition of local roads, as the latest part of a five-year £37 million programme targeted on those smaller, local roads.

Phil Bibby, cabinet member for Highways and Environment, said: “We’ve increased the budget for highway improvements to make sure we can deliver the maintenance and improvement schemes that our roads need, and we’re investing £37m over five years to improve the unclassified road network – that’s the roads most of us live on as well as rural lanes.

"We know that the condition of the county’s roads really matters to our residents, and it matters to us too.

"While we can’t do everything, this work programme, along with the regular repairs we do, will make a real difference to roads across the county.”

The Integrated Works Programme covers a range of highway maintenance and improvement schemes that the council undertakes each year.

These schemes are in addition to the minor repairs and routine maintenance, such as fixing potholes and cutting grass verges, which are carried out throughout the year.

The works are prioritised in a number of ways.

For maintenance works the council include a combination of roads – both those that need repairs because they are in a poor state now and those that need preventative maintenance work to avoid problems in the near future – while improvement schemes take into account factors like reducing accidents, tackling congestion and making it easier for people to walk, cycle or use public transport instead of their car.

The works programme is 'integrated' because, once the council has established priorities, they look to see how those schemes can best be delivered together to increase efficiency and reduce disruption on the roads.

For more information about which roads are included in the 2020/21 programme visit the council's website.