Cumbria bids for £19.5m to upgrade highways routes

An application has been submitted to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund for about £19.5m of funding to upgrade a 30km section of Cumbria’s highway network.If successful, the bid from Cumbria County Council would enable a comprehensive programme of improvements works on the A590 through Barrow-in-Furness, A595 south of Sellafield and A5086 between Cockermouth and Egremont.This would include resurfacing; drainage works and bridge repairs together with opportunities for innovation including carbon reduction measure and the use of recycled materials.Cumbria depends heavily on the road network for day-to-day accessibility, and the routes are vital to link communities, jobs, and services across Cumbria. The maintenance proposals aim to make journey times more reliable and safer and reduce the occurrence of road closures along this key route due to highways defects.Cllr Keith Little, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for Highways and Transport said: “The plans will provide a more resilient highway network, improving access to employment opportunities and services which are essential to help connect people with the places they need to get to.”Simon Fell MP for Barrow & Furness added: “This bid is hugely important to improving the quality and reliability of both the A590 and the A595.”Most people reading this will have sat in traffic as a result of a failure on one of these two roads and this bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, if successful, will drive down such incidents and give us all a more reliable, and safer, road network for years to come.”A decision from government is expected in the autumn.