UK Government Pledges £2 Billion Upgrade For Roads And Railways

The UK government has pledged to pay out £2 billion on upgrades to be made on roads and railways.

Taking at today's briefing, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: "Today I can announce nearly £2 billion pounds to upgrade our roads and our railways, to put our transport infrastructure in the best possible shape and to get our economy growing once again."

He added that 'millions of dangerous potholes' would be filled in to make roads better.

He explained: "This package includes £1.7 billion pounds for local roads, making journeys smoother and safer for drivers, haulers, cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians and others.

"By filling millions of dangerous pot holes we can make our roads safer and encourage more people to cycle or even take part in the upcoming e-scooter trials, helping more people play our part in relieving public pressure on public transport.

"This investment will help fix the damage caused by the winter flooding, repair roads and bridges and fund numerous road improvement schemes.

"As more people become mobile again, we'll also be building a network of rapid charging stations for electric cars including a big expansion of rapid charging facilities at motorway service stations, helping the country to lock in the dramatic air quality improvements we've experienced during the coronavirus lockdown."

He went on to explain that the lockdown has put the UK in a position whereby it could complete things speedily that would usually take a lot longer.

He continued: "Amid all the sad news and the tragedy of loved ones we've lost, we somehow managed to do things in weeks that would normally take years - building new hospitals, moving public services online, making instant reforms and fast track new laws, extraordinary changes in the way they employers and employees work.

"Now, we want to ensure that we can maintain this momentum - if building a new hospital takes just two weeks, why should building a new road still take as long as 20 years?

"If GP surgeries can move online, why are most rail passengers till travelling on cardboard tickets?

"We must exploit our newfound capacity to respond at pace and apply it to rapidly improving our infrastructure, and we must examine why it is that bureaucratic bindweed makes British infrastructure some of the costliest and slowest in Europe to build."