Tees Valley mayor outlines transport improvements enabled by £310m Government funding project

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has outlined a raft of transformative transport projects across the region that will be funded through the £310m secured from the Government to invest in local transport priorities.

Stations across every borough will receive a share of £86.5m, with investments in Darlington, Eaglescliffe, Middlesbrough, Redcar, and Billingham. The two stations at Teesworks, South Bank and British Steel Redcar, will also be enhanced, as will the transport links to access them.

This is in addition to line speed and capacity improvements, as well as part-funding to resolve issues between Eaglescliffe and Northallerton, where low bridges and tunnels restrict the size of freight on the line.

Zetland Road visualisation.

The region’s bus network is set to get a £40m boost, with work to improve nine key corridors, providing better connectivity between main town centres, residential and employment areas, with extra funding to revamp the region’s bus shelters. This includes enhancing links between Middlesbrough town centre and Ingleby Barwick and Coulby Newham.

There will be further investment in the region’s roads, with £82.9m passed on to Local Highways Authorities to help them address local priorities, including highways maintenance, including fixing potholes, and small-scale road improvements.

Active travel routes to facilitate walking and cycling will benefit from £46.2m, with 12 such routes across all five boroughs earmarked for upgrades, including Redcar town centre to Teesworks, Yarm Road to Teesside International Airport’s in-development £200m business park and Thornaby to Stockton town centre.

For those people who don’t own a vehicle or aren’t close to public transport links, £3.5m will be invested to continue the region’s Wheels 2 Work scheme, which gives people access to electric bikes to help them get to and from work, and also the Tees Flex on-demand bus service, so no one is left behind.

A total of £31m will support the rollout of hydrogen vehicles, as part of our status as the UK’s first Hydrogen Transport Hub, and £2m backing the transition to electric vehicles in the region.

Mayor Houchen said: “In October we were able to secure £310m from the Government, the biggest ever pot of money secured for local transport priorities. The sweeping investments will touch on every corner of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool and mean local people have the good-quality transport they rightfully deserve.

“When taken together, these schemes will go a long way in futureproofing our transport network and give local people the fast, reliable, safe services that they deserve and have been crying out for.”