Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon outlined radical new plans for the UK's transport infrastructure on 15 January, designed to support the economy and secure jobs in the long term.
The following paragraphs highlight the road and rail announcements which will particularly benefit people in the South East.
Roads
The announcement set out details of where up to £6bn will be spent to increase capacity on some of the nation's busiest roads - providing an extra 520 lane miles of road by adding an extra lane or opening up the hard shoulder - as well as new plans to roll out hard shoulder running across the core motorway network.
The investment package of up to £6bn will benefit motorists in the South East by:
- widening the M25 between junctions 16 and 23 in the north west, subject to achieving financial closure - with work planned to start this year
- introducing hard shoulder running on M25 junctions 5-7 in the south - with work planned to start by 2015
- creating a new junction - 10a at Ashford - on the M20, with work likely to start by March 2012
- introducing hard shoulder running on M3 J2-4a west of London - with work planned to start by 2015
- introducing hard shoulder running on M4 J3-12 west of London - with work planned to start by 2015;
- introducing hard shoulder running on M1 J10-13 between Luton and Milton Keynes
- the trialling of a new system on part of the M25 to integrate the management of traffic between the motorway network and the local road network - with work likely to start by March 2012.
In addition, as part of our longer term strategy to roll out hard shoulder running across the core motorway network we plan to implement this innovative technique on the M3 J9-14 (Southampton), M27 J4-11 (Southampton), M20 J3-5 (Maidstone) and M23 J8-10 (Gatwick).
Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said:
"We have successfully and safely opened up the motorway hard shoulder on the M42 at busy times, giving us confidence that we can do the same elsewhere on the network. This will deliver more reliable journey times and add a third more capacity - at a lower cost than a more conventional road widening scheme, and with fewer environmental impacts.
"That is why I am today announcing that this innovative technique will first be extended to the most congested sections of England's motorways and in the longer term will be rolled out across the core motorway network linking our major cities.
"The investment package of up to £6bn that I have set out today will also fund more conventional widening projects as well as junction improvements and other innovative projects to tackle congestion. In the South East drivers will benefit from safe, faster and more reliable journeys as extra road capacity is added where it is most needed."
Rail
Rail Passengers in the South East could benefit from greener and more reliable service with the electrification of Great Western routes in the Thames Valley.
Electrification is most beneficial on heavily used parts of the rail network. Electric trains are lighter, quieter, cheaper to operate and maintain, and emit less carbon dioxide than diesel trains.
