York is to benefit from the Government’s post-lockdown spending spree on infrastructure.
Boris Johnson announced £100 million for road and rail upgrades yesterday (Tuesday) to ‘reignite local economies and connect communities’.
One project receiving particularly significant investment is a £5 million investment in road maintenance on Tadcaster Road in York.
The money will be used to “carry out wholesale maintenance on Tadcaster Road, including road repairs and drainage, in order to complement works the council has carried out in recent years such as the replacement of ageing traffic lights, better cycling measures, junction improvements and resurfacing works”.
Council leader Keith Aspden said: “This is a key route into York, not only used for local journeys, but by millions of visitors and commuters every year.
“The wholesale maintenance works will help to improve traffic flow and ensure the city’s local road network is safe and more reliable for all residents.”
It comes after the road was resurfaced last month from the junction of Middlethorpe Drive to the junction of Knavesmire Road.
Tadcaster Road is regularly gridlocked and motorists will be hoping that the scheme will help to alleviate the jams.
Rail bid goes in
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also announced today that over 50 bids have been received from across the country for a share of the Restoring Your Railways ‘Ideas Fund’.
Among them is the scheme to reinstate the York to Beverley line.
The Minsters Rail Campaign has long worked to restore the 32-mile “Minsters” rail line, closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts.
The line left York and ran via Stamford Bridge, Pocklington and Market Weighton past Cherry Burton to a junction with the Hull to Scarborough Line at Beverley.
While much of the trackbed is still there, it would require diversions round its previous route where development has taken place.
Now the campaign has put in a bid for funding from the government’s £500 million Restoring Railways fund.
The Minsters Rail Campaign said: “The committee are confident that we have a strong case and are grateful for all the support received from MPs, officers and members at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, City of York Council, Hull City Council , Ryedale Council and the Humber and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnerships.”