A3102: Wiltshire Council gets £7m to improve safety

The money will be spent on a range of safety measures, such as improving signage and road markings

A major road close to the M4 in Wiltshire is set for a £7m upgrade after being deemed high-risk.

The A3102 between the M4 junction 16 near Swindon and the A350 in Melksham is to be improved through a government funded scheme.

The money will be spent on a range of safety measures, such as improving signage and road markings, and redesigning some junctions.

The scheme is also expected to reduce journey times and emissions.

The stretch of road serves the towns of Royal Wootton Bassett and Calne.

'Reduce collisions'

Cabinet Member for Transport Caroline Thomas said: "We're delighted to have been awarded nearly £7m from the Department for Transport's Safer Roads Fund to improve the safety on the A3102 from the M4 to the A350 at Melksham.

"In our Business Plan we set out our priorities to have well-connected communities that are safe, and this funding, which will improve reduce journey times and emissions as well as safety on the A3102, will help us to meet a number of related goals.

"We are now working on the specific details to establish the most effective way to use the funding to reduce the risk of collisions, and we'll have more information on this soon."

There has been a long running campaign to make the A3102 safer following several crashes

The figure of £6.98m was awarded for the project as part of the Department for Transport's Safer Roads Fund, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. 

The fund was set up to support safety improvements to the 50 highest risk local A-road sections in England.

The road sections were identified using traffic flow and accident data, which were assessed by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF) to establish an overall risk rating.