KEY ‘A’ roads across the Farnham area including the A31 and A325 Wrecclesham Road could benefit from up to £100 million each of funding after the government launched a consultation on its so-called ‘Major Roads Network’ (MRN).

The MRN consultation proposes that 5,000 miles of “key” ‘A’ roads - that’s over 20 times the length of the UK’s longest motorway - are brought into scope for new funding from the National Roads Fund for upgrades and improvements.

Upgrade schemes which could be considered include bypasses, missing links between existing routes, road widening, major junction improvements, and the use of technological and safety enhancements along stretches of the network.

Under the proposals in the consultation, each successful bid will be eligible for up to £100 million of government funding under the proposals to “help cut congestion, unlock housing and boost economic growth”.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “For decades, these major local roads have been underfunded and not properly maintained. We are spending record amounts on improving our roads and we want more of our busiest roads to benefit from guaranteed investment.

“This will unlock no end of benefits for communities by improving motorists’ journeys, taking traffic away from built up areas, as well as enabling new housing to be built and creating jobs.”

The consultation on the ‘A’ roads which will make up the MRN and the level of funding per scheme started on December 23 and will last for 12 weeks.

Accompanying the consultation, the Department for Transport has produced a map of the “indicative Major Roads Network” which includes the A31 between Guildford and Winchester, the A325 through Wrecclesham and Bordon, as well as the A287 Crondall Road and A331 Blackwater Valley.

Under the proposals, road upgrades will be developed by councils and, where possible, sub-national transport bodies - meaning they will be designed by the areas to deliver the best solutions for their roads.

From 2020 the National Roads Fund will be paid for by Vehicle Excise Duty, which raised about £6 billion last year.

It comes amid growing calls for urgent improvements to Farnham’s road network to curb toxic levels of air pollution, congestion resulting from development in the town and surrounding area including the Bordon re-development, and in the wake of pedestrian Amy Harris’ tragic death in Wrecclesham Hill last September.

View the DfT consultation document in full online at www.gov.uk/govern

ment/news/major-road-net

work-investment-to-boost-motorists-journeys .

• A major upgrade to the A31/A34 junction with the M3 at Winchester was also unveiled by Highways England on Tuesday.

Junction 9 of the M3, where it meets the A31 and A34, will be redesigned under the plans to create dedicated free flow lanes which will allow drivers travelling between the M3 and the A34 to avoid using the junction roundabout.

The roundabout itself will be redesigned into a new ‘dumbbell’ layout, which will increase capacity, improve safety and make journey times more reliable. A public consultation will last until February 19.