Welcome for motorway widening

Derbyshire Chamber has welcomed the Highways Agency's announcement of a £340m contract to widen the M1 in the county, with work scheduled to start this summer.

Approximately 23km of motorway will be widened between Sandiacre at J25 and Pinxton at J28 by using the hard shoulder to create four lanes and adding a new hard shoulder. All the work will be within the existing Highways Agency land boundary and there will be no work at any junctions except where slip roads meet the motorway.

The widening will provide important benefits to the local and national economy, cutting journey times and improving safety. President of Derbyshire Chamber David Merifield said: Anyone who uses this stretch of road, but particularly those on business, will know how bad the congestion can become, particularly at peak times, and a solution is long overdue.

While we're delighted the go ahead has been given, this is only a tiny part of the far wider issue of transport infrastructure in the county, and nationally, which needs to be addressed urgently. Poor infrastructure and congestion are calculated to cost UK business more than £15bn a year.

More than half of British Chambers of Commerce members cited transport infrastructure has a major influence on where they locate and many feel that shortcomings in the transport system limit business growth. Derbyshire Chamber is actively lobbying on this matter, and we're keen to hear from all sections of the business community.

Views can be forwarded to Derbyshire Chamber's chief executive George Cowcher (george.cowcher@derbyshire.org), who will be taking part in a BBC televised debate on road congestion on Thursday (Jan 11th). Places are available for Chamber members from Roland Curtis on 078 999 45341/01246 207207.

According to Highways Agency figures, the M1 carries up to 150,000 vehicles a day, more than twice the number it was designed for (67,000 vehicles). The M1 widening in the East Midlands is being carried out in two phases. Draft Orders for Phase 2 of the widening scheme, between J21 and J25 and from J28 to J30, will be published in 2008 with work due to start in 2010. These plans include improvements at the junctions and a new bypass for Kegworth.


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