All the new road repairs and upgrades due to happen in Lancashire

The funding is a combination of several pots of cash, some of which would ordinarily have been allocated after local authorities engaged in a competitive bidding process. However, the pandemic has prompted ministers to divide it up by a formula instead.

Cabinet members have agreed to use £9.2m of Lancashire’s share on major works to the A601(M) in Carnforth – including bridge refurbishments and the complete removal of one bridge structure and its replacement with a ground-level junction. The scheme was the subject of a pitch to the government’s highways challenge fund last year, after it emerged that the route was at risk of requiring weight restrictions to be placed upon it – or even complete closure.

That would have sent HGV drivers on a 21-mile diversion and also pushed other traffic through the centre of Carnforth.

The 1.3-mile dual carriageway connects the M6 at junction 35 to the A6 - and is part of the official diversion for when the M6 between junctions 35 and 36 is closed. It will lose its own motorway status as part of the newly-approved works, so that the maintenance costs for the route can be reduced.

Over £4.1m will be spent on preventative highway maintenance – including an enhanced inspection regime to identify street lighting and traffic signals deemed most at risk of failure. Already earmarked for replacement using the additional funding are the traffic lights at the junction of Church Street and Stanley Street in Preston – some of the oldest signals in operation in the city.

Those just along the A6 at the junction of New Hall Lane and Queen Street will also be upgraded, along with the pelican crossing close to the Queen Street Retail Park.

Jet patching on all classifications of road – including residential streets – will get a slice of the cash, as will work to improve drainage maintenance to prevent flooding issues.

Further structural repairs to some of the so-called “moss roads” in West Lancashire will also be carried out, after assessments revealed that a decade of extreme weather events had caused severe damage to the foundations of the routes. £547,000 will be added to the £750,000 that had already been set aside for that purpose.

Lancashire County Council’s cabinet member for highways, Keith Iddon said he was pleased that the authority was able to prioritise those rural routes which “receive less traffic, but are just as vital to our rural economy".

The remainder of the funding - £2.5m - will be used on repairing damage caused by storms Ciara and Denis last winter. Back in May, £1.6m worth of urgent repairs were approved, but more have since merged – primarily needed to prevent deterioration of bridges and retaining river walls.

The newly-identified work pushes Lancashire’s total storm damage bill to over £7m.

STORM DAMAGE REPAIRS

HIGHWAY STRUCTURAL PRIOITY WORKS

Ribble Valley

West Bradford Road, Longridge with Bowland

Rebuild 80m length of retaining wall

Rossendale

Kirk Hill Road, Haslingden, near Longhouse Farm

Wall collapse and edge of carriageway washed away.

Supporting highway works for main repairs in Bridges and Structures work

CARRIAGEWAY REPAIRS

Fylde

Staining Old Rd, Staining, between Mill Lane and Highcross

Damage to the road surface from flooding

Re-profile the carriageway and resurface after flooding

Rossendale

Rossendale South

B6527, Market Street, Edenfield

Resurface areas of flood-amaged carriageway

West Lancs

A5209, Course Lane, between Fairways and Back Lane

Resurface areas of damaged carriageway

Dungeon Lane, between Higher Lane and Lees Lane

Reconstruct road edges

Wyre

White Carr Lane, Thornton

Rebuild and strengthen the road edge

Rawcliffe Road, St Michaels

Resurface damaged road surface

Inskip Lane, Inskip

Repair road edges

MOSS ROAD REPAIRS

Fylde

Chain Lane

West Lancashire

Gorse Lane

Taylors Meanygate

New Lane Pace

Moss Lane

Gravel Lane

Green Lane

Segars Lane

BRIDGE REPAIRS

Hyndburn

Goldacre Lane, Great Harwood

Trapped debris caused the collapse of the upstream section. Demolish existing arch and replace with a box culvert and rebuild masonry parapets and wing walls

Rossendale

Fallbarn Road, Rawtenstall

Replace missing blocks in the main section. Collapse and extensive scour to upstream section adjacent to the private bridge supporting an embankment.

A671 Burnley Road, Bacup

Reconstruction of wall at void sections, new invert.

A682 Burnley Road, Rawtenstall

Voids/collapsed areas

Take down and rebuild damaged sections

Fallbarn Road, Rawtenstall

Area to the right of wall, adjacent to weir, collapsing section of blockwork to wall. Remove veg, patch point, rebuild collapsed section.

Cowpe Road Hugh Mill retaining wall

Localised repairs to the RW, remove trees, rebuild bulging sections of parapet.

Hammerton Street, Bacup

Partial collapse with scour to foundations. Reconstruction of wall at void sections, new invert.

Kirk Hill Road, Haslingden

Partial collapse. Rebuild 35m length of collapsed wall whilst supporting services.

Bury Road, Rawtenstall

Void area at high level behind bus stop. Collapsed section to low level section to left of building. Take down and rebuild damaged sections

South Ribble

Penwortham East and Walton le Dale/Penwortham West

Unnamed Bridleway No.37

Bridge removed for safety - install new timber footbridge to replace bridge that damaged and demolished following Storm Ciara.

FOOTWAY PRIORITY REPAIRS

Wyre

Gubberford Lane / A6 junction, Cabus

Repair drains and resurface footway