Funding to ease England traffic congestion

The funding is targeted at key traffic bottlenecks

Traffic bottlenecks on roads around England are to be targeted with a £165m package of funds intended to ease congestion, the government announced.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said 62 schemes would be funded under the Local Pinch Point Fund.

The funding, which was originally announced in December, will be combined with local contributions.

Work will include upgrading key roads and bridges and schemes to tackle traffic hotspots,

Mr McLoughlin said: "The schemes we have announced today are designed to target key bottlenecks around the country, making life easier for the thousands of motorists and businesses who use the local road network every day."

'Hamburger-style' roundabout

He said the schemes had the potential to help create more than 100,000 jobs and about 100,000 new homes.

The latest funding comes after 10 projects were awarded funding in March under the scheme.

In the South East, 12 schemes have been given £42.6m including a "hamburger" style roundabout with a carriageway through its centre to improve the Milton Interchange, one of the A34's busiest junctions through Oxfordshire.

The £29.8m award for the East will allow six schemes to go ahead and the £30.2m for the West Midlands involves 10 schemes.

Nine schemes in the South West will share £16.5m and there will be £19.1m for seven North West schemes.

Landslip-hit road

The two schemes in the East Midlands share £10.2m and include a new bridge across the M1 in Leicestershire to provide access to a 4,000-house development at Lubbesthorpe.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, eight schemes will share £23.8m including the A647 junction at Thornbury Barracks, in West Yorkshire, on the main route between Leeds and Bradford and improving four junctions on the A61 in Sheffield.

In the North East, £15.9m will cover six schemes including repairing a landslip-damaged road leading to the Northumberland town of Rothbury, which has been closed since December.

The £2.9m for London will be to replace elements on Putney Bridge to prevent further deterioration of the structure and work to increase capacity for buses, cyclists and HGVs and maintenance of Tennison Road bridge, in Croydon.