Council receives conditional offer to improve A631

Lincolnshire County Council has confirmed it has been ‘conditionally offered’ £4.6m as part of a £100m investment by the Government to improve some of the riskiest A-roads across the UK.

Road improvements on the A631 from Bishopbridge in the west to South Elkington near Louth in the east are expected to be implemented between 2019 and 2021.

According to a report by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF), £2,725,000 is expected to be spent on the A631 from Louth to Middle Rasen and £645,000 on the A631 from Middle Rasen to Bishopbridge.

Sections of the A1084 which runs from Caistor to Brigg have also been earmarked for funding, with the county council working alongside North Lincolnshire Council. The A1084 is set to receive around £1.2m to improve safety.

The investment in the routes comes via the Safer Roads Fund, created by the Department for Transport.

Nationwide, £100m will be used to improve safety along 48 of the riskiest stretches of council-managed A-roads in the country, as identified by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF) and The RAC Foundation in 2016.

The A631 was placed in the top 10 roads which required improvements.

Other roads in the area have missed out on this particular pot of funding - including the A46.

Funding is also set to be allocated to improve the A18 which runs from Ludborough north of Louth to Laceby.

The A631 has been the scene of several accidents in recent years. A motorcyclist suffered serious injuries after an RTC at West Rasen in May 2018 and in August 2017 a motorcyclist died after an RTC at West Rasen.

Lincolnshire County Council say they are waiting for confirmation the money will be allocated as planned.

Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways at the county council , said: “Following on from bids we submitted for Safer Roads funding last year, we’ve been conditionally offered £4.6m towards improvements to be implemented between 2019 and 2021 to the A1084, A631 Middle Rasen to Bishopbridge and A631 Louth to Middle Rasen.

“We’re just waiting on official confirmation from the Department of Transport with details of the funding.

“Once we’ve received that, we’ll have more good news to share, including details about those improvement projects.”

Executive Director of RSF, Dr Suzy Charman, who is leading the overall project, said: “The dedication of the local authority teams has been truly exceptional and together these schemes are estimated to save around 1,450 lives and serious injuries throughout their 20-year economic life.

“Although we have seen reasonable road casualty reductions on British roads over the last two decades, 2017 saw the highest annual death toll since 2011. The Safer Roads Fund has given us a truly innovative approach to tackling risky roads.”