Roadworks in Leeds and Bradford: Ministers urged to act to ease pressure

The next government is being urged to boost transport spending to speed up road repairs as figures showed West Yorkshire had some of the most congested motorways in the region.

Department for Transport (DfT) data analyzed by the BBC showed that in Leeds last year, 8.3 per cent of A roads were repaired, with Bradford second on 7.4 per cent.

Henri Murison, chief executive of transport think tank Northern Powerhouse Partnership, urged politicians in the run-up to the general election to invest boldly in new infrastructure rather than “endlessly tinker and fix”.

The DfT said it diverted millions of pounds to highways maintenance that would have been spent on the now-abandoned northern leg of HS2.

In contrast to West Yorkshire, only 2.2% of A roads were repaired last year in Sheffield, while the figure was 10 times lower than Leeds in the East Riding, despite having a similar number of main roads .

Leeds is currently undergoing the latest of several major phases of roadworks in and around the city centre, with major traffic disruptions near the New York Road flyover.

Meanwhile, in Bradford, highways crews are working around the clock to prepare the city center to host UK City of Culture in 2025.

The BBC asked drivers queuing at the Leeds crossing for their views, with one taxi driver saying his journey through the area was delayed by an average of 20 minutes.

He said, “I’m losing my earnings because of traffic.”

One commuter said there were still “lots of potholes” and “conditions are really bad”.

He added: “We pay a lot of money for taxes and other things on the vehicles. But we don’t see any progress on the roads. I would appreciate it if they fix them.”

Mr Murison admitted that “you can’t improve anything on our road network without some disruption” and praised efforts by local authorities in Leeds and Bradford to make the network more “resilient”.

But he said the large amount of roadwork was symptomatic of larger underlying problems.

“Our motorways in the north of England are under-invested because the current government has promised many times that they want to deal with potholes and they haven’t put any money into it,” he told BBC Politics North.

“They said it was new money because now HS2 to the north is not going to happen. Well, in reality, the money could always be spent.

“I think whoever wins the next election needs to be honest with the British public. It’s not really a trade-off between very long-term projects and maintaining things we’ve already built.

“Every civilized country, every Western economy, must maintain its existing roads and railways and build new ones.”

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “Local highway authorities are responsible for maintaining their road networks, but we are supporting them with the biggest ever increase in funding for local road improvements, made possible by an extra £8.3 billion of pounds reallocated to HS2. .

“The West Yorkshire Combined Authority will receive £830m between 2022/23 and 2026/27, which includes funding for motorway maintenance, as well as an increase of over £4.6m for 2023/24 and also , 2024/25 for road redevelopment, made possible. through HS2 reallocated funds.”