Scores of new bypasses are to be built under a £1 billion-a-year plan to combat congestion in towns and cities, the transport secretary will say today.
Chris Grayling will announce the road-building scheme after a sharp rise in traffic and slowing average speeds. Funding will be ringfenced from the £6 billion raised annually from vehicle excise duty, he said, creating the first direct link between road tax and upkeep of major highways in 80 years.
It will be spent upgrading about 3,800 miles of A-roads that are maintained by local authorities beyond the remit of Highways England, the government-owned agency that deals with motorways and main carriageways.
Mr Grayling told The Times that most of these roads were “de-trunked” by Labour two decades ago to
