Portsmouth Prize Project Completed at £40m
Transport Minister Baroness Kramer saw the benefits of nearly £50m of investment in Portsmouth when she visited the city yesterday.
The visit formally marked the completion of the new M275 Tipner Interchange junction and park-and-ride and Northern Road bridge replacement schemes, as well as taking in a selection of projects from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has played an important role in all of this work, awarding more than £35m in total, to go with more than £12m from Portsmouth City Council.
The visit started at Northern Road bridge where Baroness Kramer helped children from Medina Primary School bury a time capsule. She then travelled to the new junction for a tour of the new park-and-ride facility before travelling on one of the state-of-the-art double-decker buses to The Hard.
She also visited the newly opened Cycle Hub in the city centre and learned about Portsmouth's travel advisors service; award-winning wayfinding signboards; the Bike Doctor; and projects promoting driver efficiency to develop safer driving and save money through improved fuel economy.
Transport Minister Baroness Kramer said: “The Government is investing record amounts in our transport network and the improvements in Portsmouth’s transport system will benefit regular commuters, shoppers and visitors alike. As well as helping make transport in the area greener and more sustainable, this investment will help support local jobs and businesses and boost Portsmouth’s competitiveness.”
Cllr Jason Fazackarley, Portsmouth City Council's Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transport, said: "In the last few years we have made massive improvements to Portsmouth's transport infrastructure and the Department for Transport's support has been instrumental.
"It's great that Baroness Kramer has been able to see the benefits of all the work put in and this should give the government confidence that the city is making fantastic use of the funding it has been awarded."