Latest news with #transport
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
A465 Heads of the Valleys road to fully reopen after 23 years
It's been called the "road from hell" but after 23 years of roadworks and congestion, one of the UK's most expensive and complex road upgrade projects has finally fully last traffic cone and contraflow was removed from the A465 Heads of the Valleys road in south Wales on Friday night after a £2bn upgrade that started back in 28-mile (45km) improvement is designed to bring prosperity to one of the UK's most deprived areas and cut journey times between west Wales and the ministers have said the upgrade will boost the region but opponents have criticised how long it has taken and the "extortionate" price tag. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative UK government initially drew up the upgrade programme in 1990 because of frequent tailbacks and serious crashes on parts of the to turn the road into a full dual carriageway began when Tony Blair was prime minister in after enormous overspends, major delays, a global pandemic and hundreds of carriageway closures, drivers can travel direct between Swansea and Monmouthshire without passing through roadworks for the first time in 23 years. Why were there roadworks on the Heads of the Valleys? The A465 crosses the south Wales coalfields, a national park and in some parts, twists close to people's 70 structures - including more than 40 new bridges and a dozen new junctions - have been built as part of the upgrade. Workers have planted 285,000 trees to mitigate its significant environmental impact - offsetting more than seven million kilograms of CO2 a year - in a country which declared a climate emergency six years including bats, dormice and great crested newts have also been moved."In 50 years' time, experts will look back and say the single biggest thing the Welsh government has done to raise the prospects of Heads of the Valleys communities is building this road," Wales' Transport Secretary Ken Skates previously said."This is about generating jobs, prosperity, opportunities and better connecting and benefiting communities across the region." How much will the Heads of the Valleys roadworks cost? The Heads of the Valleys upgrade had been split into six sections - done from the most to least dangerous for final stages cost £590m to physically build the road but because of the way the project is funded, it will cost £1.4bn - and the Welsh government has not yet paid a final stretch between Dowlais Top in Merthyr Tydfil to Hirwaun in Rhondda Cynon Taf is being financed using something called the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) - which is a bit like getting a car on of paying it off in one lump sum, the Welsh government will pay more than £40m a year for 30 years in return for an 11-mile stretch of road that will be maintained by a private firm until it is brought back into public ownership in Cymru has called this way of funding a "waste of public money" and said private firms would "cream off" a "substantial amount of profit". The Welsh Conservatives have said the cost and delays "epitomises Labour's 25 years of failure in Wales" and added the final "gargantuan" cost would have almost covered the scrapped M4 relief road around Newport - where there is about four times more daily Welsh government said without borrowing cash the way it has, it would not have been able to finish the final is because the UK left the European Union in the middle of the entire scheme, meaning access to money that had helped on previous sections was no longer entire cost of the whole 23-year, 28-mile scheme will be about £2bn when everything is Labour Welsh government said it had learned lessons from the project, changing construction contracts and reviewing indicators of contractor performance. 'It was worth it' According to taxi driver Michael Gate from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, it was a "nightmare" travelling between Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil when the roadworks were taking place. "It was really dangerous because it was one lane over there and one lane back," said the 63-year-old who has owned his taxi company since 2005. He added: "Now it's fantastic, it's got to be the best road in Wales. It's money well spent."Meanwhile, Claire Urch, 50, said the work had made journeys shorter but the constantly changing road lay-outs were "very difficult" for her daughter while learning to drive. "I've seen cars driving thinking it's a one-way street because they haven't had any signposting there and it's almost caused an accident on at least two occasions that I've been on there," Ms Urch said, speaking about one diversion by Aberdare. Nikki Webb, 49, lives in Hirwaun which she said had been "stuck right in the middle of it all".She said the work caused "chaos all the time" with lorries coming into the village but felt the "hassle was definitely worth it".Ms Webb added: "You can get to Merthyr so much quicker, I don't find there's traffic like there used to be."Mike Moore, who works as an operation manager for a traffic management company, said dualing the road "only made sense" from a safety point of view. "It's been five years of probably frustration for the public but in reality it pays dividends in the long run," he said. "These things have got to be built."It has come a long way from the start of this year when one affected man from Merthyr Tydfil described the Heads of the Valleys as "like the road from hell". He added: "Not even Chris Rea (singer) would dare come here." "As a whole, the Heads of the Valleys project is one of the UK's biggest road upgrade projects for many years," said Keith Jones of the Institution of Civil Engineers."And what's been so challenging is keeping the existing road operational while the work has gone on in some challenging and bleak terrain." Analysis By Gareth Lewis, BBC Wales political editorSo Wales DOES build roads after all - albeit expensive ones that take a long time to scheme to upgrade the Heads of the Valleys road predates a Welsh government decision to scrap all new major road projects on environmental grounds back in a change of transport secretary from Lee Waters to Ken Skates last year means similar schemes could now happen in the future, if they reflected the climate emergency and were at the forefront of design. Welsh Labour has realised that some of its transport policies including the 20mph speed limit have been economic potential for the road was not lost on one Labour MS who commissioned a report by a think tank into it back in 2021. And with a Senedd election next year, expect Labour to signal the scheme's completion for all they're worth as it loops its way through many of the party's traditional south Wales heartlands.
The Sun
a day ago
- General
- The Sun
Robert Jenrick says he chose to ‘get his hands dirty' and collar fare-dodgers after watching so many get away with it
ROBERT Jenrick collared fare-dodgers after watching so many get away with it, he says. The Shadow Justice Secretary tackled cheats at an East London Tube station, telling The Sun: 'Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty.' 2 Mr Jenrick said he saw 'dozens of freeloaders' slip through at Stratford in an hour. He is told to 'f*** off' as he pursues them in footage seen more than 12 million times. He blasts station staff for failing to intervene, and asks: 'What is the point of them if they don't bother doing their job? 'It shouldn't be left to the public to enforce the law.' In one case, he says to a basketball-hat wearing yob: 'You what?You're carrying a knife?' Mr Jenrick, MP for Newark, Notts, was criticised by some critics for not getting Transport for London permission to film in the station. He lost out to Kemi Badenoch in last year's Tory leadership race but is tipped to succeed her should she be forced out. He is understood to be planning more videos. I'll take Nigel Farage DOWN, blasts Robert Jenrick - he's about to get the oxygen sucked out of him 2
The Independent
a day ago
- General
- The Independent
Fact check: Video has been online for months before Robert Jenrick ‘expose'
A widely shared social media post claimed Transport for London (TfL) is 'suddenly enforcing the barriers after @RobertJenrick's expose'. It was posted alongside a video showing a man and police by a set of ticket barriers. Evaluation The video in question has been online for several months so is unrelated to a widely shared video which was released by Conservative MP Robert Jenrick earlier this week. The facts The video with the caption claiming it was linked to Mr Jenrick's expose was posted on May 30. The mention of an expose is most likely a reference to a video released by Mr Jenrick on May 29 in which he confronts alleged fare evaders on the London transport system. However the video which supposedly shows a reaction to Mr Jenrick's 'expose' has been online for some time before the MP released his video. A reverse image search shows that it was uploaded by one social media user on December 19 2024, and could be even older than that. Links
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
West Midlands bus passengers face hike in fares after review
Bus fares are to increase by 8.6% as a result of rising costs faced by bus operators, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) 15 June, a day ticket will rise by 40p to £5.20; a four-week fare will go up from £64 to £70, and the monthly direct debit fare is to change from £59 to £ fare rise follows an independent review, instigated by bus operators, which recommended the increase and which TfWM was required to introduce. The public body said its monthly and annual bus passes would remain among the lowest in this month, West Midlands mayor Richard Parker signed an order to bring the region's bus network back under public control for the first time in nearly 40 years. TfWM said the West Midlands Combined Authority, which it is part of, had agreed to continue the £50m a year funding to "support struggling operators and prevent further reductions in bus services".Matt Lewis, TfWM commercial director – bus and operations, stated it was a "difficult time for people and money is tight". Long-term investment The public body had worked hard with "our bus operators to keep these increases to an absolute minimum" and keep its services on the road, he a franchise system, the TfWM and regional leaders will take control of routes and timetables and set fares, as well as make long-term investments in services. Private operators will bid to run services on behalf of TfWM, and this will be introduced in phases from 2027, with the rollout completed during 3,600 people who took part in a consultation, including organisations, 75% who expressed a preference backed bringing services under public control, the combined authority has one-off costs of setting up the new operation and designing the network were expected to be £22.5m over three years, it had stated. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
Local access roads to Cornwall's A30 near completion
A road leading to the upgraded A30 in Cornwall is on course to open in July, transport bosses Highways said the opening of the Travalso underpass near Zelah is part of ongoing work to improve access to the new A30 for local programme of work has also seen the old A30 opened up to traffic between the Chybucca and Carland nine-mile (14.5km) stretch of dual-carriageway between Chiverton Cross and Carland Cross opened in June after four years of construction. National Highways said Pennycomequick Lane and the Church Lane underpass are also due to open in the summer, together with further hedging work and tree Alcorn, National Highways' programme manager for the scheme, said: "We've done a heck of a lot to get things moving forward."We've progressed a significant amount of ancillary work, including planting, hedging and landscaping, we're in touching distance of the finishing line now and we thank people in advance for their continued co-operation and patience while we carry out these final works."
