£40bn roads pipeline unveiled for next 10 years

[KeithW]

I’m just wondering out loud if the A1(M) Doncaster Bypass rebuild scheme might be like the 1990s M5 J3 to J8 type widening scheme, with a new carriageway excavated out beside the existing motorway and a complete demolition and rebuild of all the bridges and junctions?

In the mid to late 1980s - yes.

Nowadays - not a cat in hells chance. If it gets widened it will be a as Smart motorway with narrow lanes where necessary.

It would actually be much more destructive than the M5 J3 to J8 as you would have to demolish a large part of Warmsworth. I doubt you could have got away with getting planning permission in the late 1980's but yes this sort of thing was done in the early 1980's and some of those projects finished in the late 1980's. An example was the driving of the A66 through central Middlesbrough. A look at this site will show you how much demolition that involved.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/nost ... ng-9186095

What did happen in the 1990's was the extension of the M1 from Leeds to Hook Moor which was intended to handle traffic between the M1 and A1(M). The trouble is the traffic along that route grew so fast and so quickly that it is now often slower than the Doncaster Bypass.

I suspect Phil is right, we will almost certainly end up with ALR, narrow lanes and quite probably the speed limit shown on the VMS signs will be 50 or 60 mph through that section for most of the day. I would not be altogether surprised if ramp metering at the on slips at J38 was also introduced.

[jackal]

DfT have updated the spreadsheet that I linked in the OP - for convenience, here it is again: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... sv/preview

I've extracted the following list of improvement contracts from it:

Contract Title / Contract Start / Value Of New Contract
1 Manchester Northwest Quadrant - Construction 29/10/2024 £3,000,000,000
2 Lower Thames Crossing Tunnels and Approaches Contract 28/02/2023 £2,300,000,000
3 Lower Thames Crossing - Roads North of the Thames 16/12/2022 £1,300,000,000
4 A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down - Mainworks 25/03/2022 £1,250,000,000
5 A1 Doncaster to Darrington Jan-24 £1,159,000,000
6 A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Project: Construction Contract- Design and Build Packages Jul-22 £773,000,000
7 A5 Hinkley to Tamworth Jan-25 £724,000,000
8 Lower Thames Crossing - Kent Roads 16/12/2022 £600,000,000
9 Package B9 - A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening 30/10/2021 £569,975,430
10 A120 Braintree to A12 A120 Braintree (D&B) 31/03/2023 £513,000,000
11 Tilbury Port Access Jan-25 £443,000,000
12 A27 Chichester Jan-25 £443,000,000
13 Package B18 - A46 Newark Northern Bypass 30/09/2021 £436,000,000
14 M1/M62 Lofthouse Junction Jan-23 £435,000,000
15 A2 Dover Access Jan-23 £427,000,000
16 Package B16- A19 New Tees Crossing - Standalone Dec-21 £396,000,000
17 Package B11 - A5036 Princes Way - Access to Port of Liverpool Jan-21 £315,008,259
18 A12/A14 Copdock Interchange Jan-22 £293,000,000
19 A64 Hopgrove Jan-25 £250,000,000
20 Package B15 - A417 Missing Link at Air Balloon 30/10/2021 £238,511,565
21 M1 Leicester Western Access Jan-22 £234,000,000
22 A27 Lewes to Polegate Jan-25 £227,000,000
23 A19 Junctions North of Newcastle Jan-25 £200,000,000
24 Manchester Northwest Quadrant – Technical Partner Jan-22 £150,000,000
25 A2 Brenley Corner Jan-23 £127,000,000
26 M1 Leeds Eastern Gateway Jan-25 £115,000,000
27 Package A3 - M3 J9 Improvement 30/10/2021 £113,924,048
28 A404 Bisham Junction Jan-25 £100,000,000
29 DIP Lot 3 - North West M6 Lune Gorge - Standalone Aug-21 £95,000,000
30 A483 Pant-Llanymynech Jan-25 £93,000,000
31 A404/M40 Junction 4 High Wycombe Jan-25 £89,000,000
32 M6 Junction 22 Jan-25 £86,000,000
33 M60 South East Junctions Improvements Jan-25 £83,000,000
34 A11 Fiveways Junction Jan-25 £73,000,000
35 A38 Trerulefoot to Carkeel Safety Package Jan-22 £64,000,000
36 A303 Stonehenge (Amesbury to Berwick Down) Delivery Assurance Partner Feb-21 £60,000,000
37 Lower Thames Crossing - Commercial Partner 18/10/2021 £60,000,000
38 Lower Thames Crossing - Owner Coordinated Insurance Policy (OCIP) 23/12/2022 £50,000,000
39 M6 Junction 15 Potteries Southern Access Jan-25 £48,000,000
40 Lower Thames Crossing - Specialist Security Services Aug-21 £45,000,000
41 Package A2 - A46 Coventry Junctions Upgrade (Walsgrave) 30/10/2021 £43,773,489
42 Severn Resilience Package Jan-22 £41,000,000
43 Package A11 - A47 Great Yarmouth 30/11/2021 £40,000,000
44 A47/A1101 Elm Road Junction Jan-25 £34,000,000
45 M27 Southampton Access Jan-21 £34,000,000
46 M11 Junction 13 Cambridge West Jan-25 £31,000,000
47 A120 Braintree to A12 (Design Stage 3 & 4 Works) 31/03/2022 £30,000,000
48 Package A5 - M621 Junction Improvements 31/12/2021 £27,588,000
49 A3/A247 Ripley South Jan-25 £20,000,000
50 M60 North West Quadrant PCF Stage 2 30/09/2021 £20,000,000
51 Manchester North West Quadrant (TA) 30/09/2021 £20,000,000
52 Gatwick Airport Third Party Works Jan-21 £9,000,000
53 Lower Thames Crossing - Tilbury Overbridge Jan-21 £7,000,000
54 A303 Phase 2 (TA) Jan-22 £6,616,000
55 A19 North of Newcastle Junctions (TA) Jan-21 £5,739,000
56 M6 Junction 22 (TA) Jan-21 £4,682,000
57 Tilbury Port Access (TA) Jan-21 £3,449,000
58 M1 Leeds Eastern Gateway (TA) Jan-22 £3,278,000
59 A483 Pant-Llanymynech (TA) Jan-22 £2,692,000
60 A19 New Tees Crossing (TA) Jan-21 £2,500,000
61 A404 Bisham Junction (TA) Jan-22 £2,342,000
62 A404/M40 Junction 4 High Wycombe (TA) Jan-22 £2,150,000
63 A46 Newark Bypass (TA) Jan-21 £2,000,000
64 M6 Junction 15 Potteries Southern Access (TA) Jan-21 £1,557,000
65 M27 Junction 3 (TA) 31/01/2022 £1,150,000
66 A47 Great Yarmouth (PCF Stage 2) (TA) Jan-21 £1,000,000
67 Package A1 - A52 Nottingham Junctions (larger) 30/09/2021 £0
68 Package B6 - A27 Worthing to Lancing Improvements 29/10/2022 To Be Confirmed
TOTAL £18,374,935,791

There are some big contracts in the list that weren't in the previous version: Manchester Northwest Quadrant - Construction (£3,000,000,000), A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down - Mainworks (£1,250,000,000), and Package B9 - A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening (£569,975,430). This is surely due to oversights with the previous list rather than any policy change, but it's certainly interesting that they plan to spend so much on Manchester NW Quadrant.

There are no smart motorway schemes in the above list, presumably for political reasons. That said there has not really been a cull of smart motorway schemes as almost all of the smart motorway schemes in the previous list have now either started construction or opened: M4 Junctions 3 to 12, M1 Junctions 13 to 19, M62 Junctions 20 to 25, M27 Junctions 4 to 11, M6 Junctions 21a to 26. The exception is M6 J4-5, perhaps suggesting that DHS to ALR conversions are endangered by the current controversy.

[ABB125]

I may be missing something obvious here, but how can a pair of new sliproads at Copdock possibly cost more than the A417 Air Balloon? £293 million vs £238 million.

[c2R]

I may be missing something obvious here, but how can a pair of new sliproads at Copdock possibly cost more than the A417 Air Balloon? £293 million vs £238 million.

Land cost?

[jackal]

I may be missing something obvious here, but how can a pair of new sliproads at Copdock possibly cost more than the A417 Air Balloon? £293 million vs £238 million.

The outturn cost for the freeflow Copdock option (option 4) is £248.4m according to the report below. Add on a few years' inflation and you easily get to £293m.

Using 2010 undiscounted prices we can make a like-for-like comparison with the similar* scheme at Thickthorn:

Thickthorn £66m
Copdock £109.7m

The area around Copdock is flood plain, which adds to engineering complexity. I agree the price still seems very high though.

On a more positive note, they seem to be budgeting for option 4 at Copdock, and it's pretty fantastic to see freeflow improvements like these being progressed at such infamous blackspots.

Copdock report: https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... 7%200.3.pd
Thickthorn report: https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... rt2018.pdf

*They've now removed the big left turn from the design for Thickthorn, but at the time of the costing it was included.

[Herned]

What I find surprising, given the cost of the aforementioned scheme at Copdock, is that the Kent side of the LTC will "only" cost £600m. Given the complexity and extent of the A2 GSJ, that seems surprisingly low

[Achmelvic]

As I've mentioned before on here I'm all for improvement at M1/M62 Lofthouse junction as someone who has to use it regularly. But wow £435 million, by the time of construction I wouldn't be surprised if it's pushing half billion pounds. Is that amongst the most expensive single junction improvements ever? Or am I missing something?

[jackal]

As I've mentioned before on here I'm all for improvement at M1/M62 Lofthouse junction as someone who has to use it regularly. But wow £435 million, by the time of construction I wouldn't be surprised if it's pushing half billion pounds. Is that amongst the most expensive single junction improvements ever? Or am I missing something?

I think it will be the most expensive. The next highest that come to mind are Catthorpe at £200m-£250m (maybe not far off £435m if adjusted for a decade's construction inflation), and M42 J6 at £282m (though it's not really a single junction improvement). The A2 and A13 junctions for the LTC will also each be into the hundreds of millions, though I've not seen them individually costed (I imagine the former will be the lion's share of the £600m for LTC roads in Kent).

[Rillington]

I may be missing something obvious here, but how can a pair of new sliproads at Copdock possibly cost more than the A417 Air Balloon? £293 million vs £238 million.

I've also been astounded by the cost of building new transport infrastructure, both for roads and railways as it seems to cost well over £10 million to build even the most basic train stations.

[KeithW]

I may be missing something obvious here, but how can a pair of new sliproads at Copdock possibly cost more than the A417 Air Balloon? £293 million vs £238 million.

I've also been astounded by the cost of building new transport infrastructure, both for roads and railways as it seems to cost well over £10 million to build even the most basic train stations.

I can assure you they didnt spend £10 million on Gypsy Lane
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.53303 ... 6656?hl=en

or James Cook Station
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.55201 ... 4096?hl=en

It cost £2.2 million and a large part of that was the access route, foot bridge, path, lighting and power lines.

[JonB2028]

DfT have updated the spreadsheet that I linked in the OP - for convenience, here it is again: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... sv/preview

You wouldn't happen to have link to the Dft or NH web page that links to the spreadsheet you've given link to, just to see the context this list has been given in?

[jackal]

DfT have updated the spreadsheet that I linked in the OP - for convenience, here it is again: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... sv/preview

You wouldn't happen to have link to the Dft or NH web page that links to the spreadsheet you've given link to, just to see the context this list has been given in?

Think it was here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... sv/preview

[JonB2028]

Think it was here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... sv/preview

Yes, that's it. Thank you.

[jackal]

You're welcome.

Here are the £100m+ NH items. Some interesting updates:

Short Description / "Procurement Start Date(Actual Or Best Estimate)" / Contract Commencement Date / Value Of New Contract (Excluding Options)

Manchester Northwest Quadrant - Construction 01/04/2024 30/10/2024 £3,000,000,000.00
Lower Thames Crossing Tunnels and Approaches Contract 01/09/2022 01/03/2023 £2,300,000,000.00
Lower Thames Crossing - Roads North of the Thames 01/11/2022 01/05/2023 £1,300,000,000.00
A1 Doncaster to Darrington 01/04/2023 24/10/2023 £1,265,000,000.00
A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down - Mainworks Not Held In System Not Held In System £1,250,000,000.00
A27 Lewes to Polegate 01/01/2024 03/06/2024 £880,000,000.00
A5 Hinkley to Tamworth 01/10/2023 01/04/2024 £851,000,000.00
A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Project: Construction Contract- Design and Build Packages 01/06/2022 08/12/2022 £773,000,000.00
Lower Thames Crossing - Kent Roads 01/11/2022 01/05/2023 £600,000,000.00
Package B9 - A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening Not Held In System Not Held In System £569,975,430.42
M1 Leicester Western Access 01/05/2023 01/11/2023 £564,000,000.00
A120 Braintree to A12 A120 Braintree (D&B) 01/09/2022 31/03/2023 £513,000,000.00
M1/M62 Lofthouse Junction 01/06/2022 01/12/2022 £447,000,000.00
A19 Junctions North of Newcastle 01/09/2024 03/03/2025 £424,000,000.00
A27 Chichester 01/01/2024 03/06/2024 £410,000,000.00
A2 Dover Access 01/07/2022 18/01/2023 £399,000,000.00
Package B16 - A19 New Tees Crossing - Standalone Not Held In System Not Held In System £396,000,000.00
A64 Hopgrove 01/05/2022 08/11/2022 £391,000,000.00
A417 Missing Link to Air Balloon Not Held In System Not Held In System £379,060,000.00
A12/A14 Copdock Interchange 01/03/2023 01/09/2023 £321,000,000.00
Package B11 - A5036 Princes Way - Access to Port of Liverpool Not Held In System Not Held In System £315,008,259.06
Tilbury Port Access 01/09/2024 03/03/2025 £200,000,000.00
Manchester North West Quadrant - Technical Partner Not Held In System Not Held In System £150,000,000.00
Manchester Northwest Quadrant – Technical Partner Not Held In System Not Held In System £150,000,000.00
A2 Brenley Corner 01/07/2022 04/01/2023 £139,000,000.00
M1 Leeds Eastern Gateway 01/09/2024 01/03/2025 £115,000,000.00
Package A3 - M3 J9 Improvement Not Held In System Not Held In System £113,924,048.04
A404 Bisham Junction 01/09/2024 01/03/2025 £110,000,000.00
A11 Fiveways Junction 01/10/2024 01/04/2025 £101,000,000.00

[ABB125]

You're welcome.

Here are the £100m+ NH items. Some interesting new and updated items:

Short Description / "Procurement Start Date(Actual Or Best Estimate)" / Contract Commencement Date / Value Of New Contract (Excluding Options)

Manchester Northwest Quadrant - Construction 01/04/2024 30/10/2024 £3,000,000,000.00
Lower Thames Crossing Tunnels and Approaches Contract 01/09/2022 01/03/2023 £2,300,000,000.00
Lower Thames Crossing - Roads North of the Thames 01/11/2022 01/05/2023 £1,300,000,000.00
A1 Doncaster to Darrington 01/04/2023 24/10/2023 £1,265,000,000.00
A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down - Mainworks Not Held In System Not Held In System £1,250,000,000.00
A27 Lewes to Polegate 01/01/2024 03/06/2024 £880,000,000.00
A5 Hinkley to Tamworth 01/10/2023 01/04/2024 £851,000,000.00
A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Project: Construction Contract- Design and Build Packages 01/06/2022 08/12/2022 £773,000,000.00
Lower Thames Crossing - Kent Roads 01/11/2022 01/05/2023 £600,000,000.00
Package B9 - A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening Not Held In System Not Held In System £569,975,430.42
M1 Leicester Western Access 01/05/2023 01/11/2023 £564,000,000.00
A120 Braintree to A12 A120 Braintree (D&B) 01/09/2022 31/03/2023 £513,000,000.00
M1/M62 Lofthouse Junction 01/06/2022 01/12/2022 £447,000,000.00
A19 Junctions North of Newcastle 01/09/2024 03/03/2025 £424,000,000.00
A27 Chichester 01/01/2024 03/06/2024 £410,000,000.00
A2 Dover Access 01/07/2022 18/01/2023 £399,000,000.00
Package B16 - A19 New Tees Crossing - Standalone Not Held In System Not Held In System £396,000,000.00
A64 Hopgrove 01/05/2022 08/11/2022 £391,000,000.00
A417 Missing Link to Air Balloon Not Held In System Not Held In System £379,060,000.00
A12/A14 Copdock Interchange 01/03/2023 01/09/2023 £321,000,000.00
Package B11 - A5036 Princes Way - Access to Port of Liverpool Not Held In System Not Held In System £315,008,259.06
Tilbury Port Access 01/09/2024 03/03/2025 £200,000,000.00
Manchester North West Quadrant - Technical Partner Not Held In System Not Held In System £150,000,000.00
Manchester Northwest Quadrant – Technical Partner Not Held In System Not Held In System £150,000,000.00
A2 Brenley Corner 01/07/2022 04/01/2023 £139,000,000.00
M1 Leeds Eastern Gateway 01/09/2024 01/03/2025 £115,000,000.00
Package A3 - M3 J9 Improvement Not Held In System Not Held In System £113,924,048.04
A404 Bisham Junction 01/09/2024 01/03/2025 £110,000,000.00
A11 Fiveways Junction 01/10/2024 01/04/2025 £101,000,000.00

Do we know what "M1 Leicester Western Access" is? I thought the southern bypass idea had been cancelled (unless I'm confusing different projects!)?

Also, it's remarkable how Copdock can cost almost as much as Birdlip Hill...

[jackal]

Some of the pipeline schemes early in development have had massive cost increases over the last 6 months ago, presumably reflecting design work:

A27 Lewes to Polegate 01/01/2024 03/06/2024 £880,000,000.00
M1 Leicester Western Access 01/05/2023 01/11/2023 £564,000,000.00
A19 Junctions North of Newcastle 01/09/2024 03/03/2025 £424,000,000.00
A64 Hopgrove 01/05/2022 08/11/2022 £391,000,000.00

One scheme has halved in price, though as discussed above I think the original value was an error:

Tilbury Port Access 01/09/2024 03/03/2025 £200,000,000.00

Do we know what "M1 Leicester Western Access" is? I thought the southern bypass idea had been cancelled (unless I'm confusing different projects!)?

It's the modern version of the 00s scheme to widen or ALR the M1 between the M69 and A46, and provide freeflow for M1 southbound to M69.

[c2R]

Do we have any idea about what's going to be built at Manchester NW Quadrant - 3 entries totalling £3.3bn is a massive amount of money....

[mikehindsonevans]

Do we have any idea about what's going to be built at Manchester NW Quadrant - 3 entries totalling £3.3bn is a massive amount of money....

Possibly the (25 years later) realistic cost of widening the M62 corridor up to the Valley of Death from Urmston past the M61 to the M67 junction (and hopefully at least one mile beyond!). This was abandoned after buying up properties.

[jackal]

Do we have any idea about what's going to be built at Manchester NW Quadrant - 3 entries totalling £3.3bn is a massive amount of money....

Possibly the (25 years later) realistic cost of widening the M62 corridor up to the Valley of Death from Urmston past the M61 to the M67 junction (and hopefully at least one mile beyond!). This was abandoned after buying up properties.

As of 2020 the full M62 bypass had been ruled out. There's a summary here:

1. M60 Junction 14 remodelling – under consideration
2. M60 Junction 12 and Junction 13 remodelling – under consideration
3. M62 to A57 Link Road – under consideration
4. M60 Junction 17 to Junction 18 capacity improvements – No longer
required as part of the committed RIS2, M60 Simister Island project
5. M60 Junction 12 to Junction 18 bypass – Not in scope
6. New link Road between M61 and M62 east of Junction 18 – Not in scope as
part of the Northern Corridor option which was assessed by Highways
England in 2016-2017 and did not progress further.
7. M60 Junction 9 to Junction 10 capacity improvements – under
consideration
8. New link (Wigan, Hindley, Westhoughton bypass) from M58 to M61 – Not in
scope as part of the Northern Corridor option which was assessed by
Highways England in 2016-2017 and did not progress further.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... quadrant_p

[Herned]

A404 Bisham Junction 01/09/2024 01/03/2025 £110,000,000.00
A11 Fiveways Junction 01/10/2024 01/04/2025 £101,000,000.00

I'm quite surprised by the numbers involved for those schemes - firstly Bisham Jct has gone up dramatically compared to the previous plan, and I would have thought Fiveways was a more complex project