MORE pressure has been put on the Government to cough up the £63million needed to complete the dualling of Carrington Bridge.
The city’s MP, Robin Walker, joined forces with fellow south Worcestershire MPs Harriet Baldwin and Sir Peter Luff to press the case for widening the bridge and completing the dualling of the notoriously congested Southern Link Road.
The trio met with roads minister Robert Goodwill at the Department of Transport along with Coun Adrian Hardman, leader of Worcestershire County Council and chief executive Clare Marchant to push for funding.
They presented the minister with a case indicating it would help job and housing growth for the whole of south Worcestershire and a wider area and would help with persistent traffic problems in and around Worcester.
The dualling of the entire A4440 Southern Link Road has already been guaranteed by the county council but the Carrington Bridge work needs another £63million of funding on top of £7million already pledged by County Hall.
Mr Walker said the minister had shown a great deal of interest in the project.
“It was really useful to be able to press the case for dualling the whole Southern Link including the Carrington Bridge, with the minister and I am grateful for his advice and engagement on this,” he said.
“He really listened to what we had to say and showed a great deal of interest in the project.
“There can be no doubt that Worcestershire’s case has been heard and that the Department of Transport now fully appreciates why this road is so important.
“The next step will be to build the widest coalition of support for the project and to keep drawing attention to it in Parliament. I believe that a combination of the Local Growth Fund and some extra funding from the Department of Transport can make this possible sooner rather than later and I intend to keep pressing for it until it is done.”
Work to improve the A4440, which is used by an estimated 30,000 cars a day, is already underway at the Ketch roundabout.
The island is being doubled in size and a new slip road created for drivers turning left coming from Bath Road.
Mrs Baldwin, West Worcestershire MP, said the dualling was important for her constituency.
“The Southern Link Road is a vital artery from the motorway to the world class businesses in West Worcestershire,” she said.
“It’s been well over capacity for years and it is great to see that the section to the Ketch roundabout will be doubled this year.
“However, we are clearly going to need to add more capacity to the stretch from the Ketch to the Powick Roundabout and all the south Worcestershire MPs need to speak with the same voice on this to government in order to win the funding required for the Carrington Bridge.”
