Transport secretary pledges nearly £2bn for ‘smoother and safer journeys’ as UK recovers from coronavirus

People have ‘civic duty’ to avoid public transport during crisis, Grant Shapps says

Billions of pounds of infrastructure upgrades will lead to “smoother and safer journeys” as the UK recovers from the coronavirus outbreak, the transport secretary has claimed.

Grant Shapps said hundreds of millions of pounds has already been spent on improvements to road and rail networks during the lockdown, with more work planned over the coming months.

Around 11 million potholes will be repaired as part of a £1.7bn transport infrastructure investment fund, he said.

On top of the fund, the government is also accelerating more than £175m of work to be carried out while fewer people are travelling than normal.

It announced a target for every motorway service area in England to have a minimum of six ultra-rapid electric vehicle charge points by 2023, with some larger sites having up to a dozen. It would allow drivers to recharge their cars in around 15 minutes – three times quicker than normal.

The Department for Transport unveiled £2bn in funding to boost sustainable travel last week.

“There has been a monumental effort in every corner of the country to slow the spread of the virus and protect our NHS,” Mr Shapps said.

“However, the battle is not over yet and we urge everyone to keep up the good work and only travel when they need to.

“To help those who do have to use public transport or get out on the roads to do their jobs, we’ve been accelerating infrastructure upgrades to make sure that, as we gradually reopen our society, everyone can benefit from smoother and safer journeys with better connections for our future.”

At a press conference in Downing Street, Mr Shapps said people had a “civic duty” to avoid public transport if at all possible during the coronavirus crisis.

As he set out plans for nearly £2n in extra spending, he said the lockdown had been used to carry out a range of maintenance projects on the road and rail networks.

However, he said “bureaucratic bindweed” meant British infrastructure was some of the most expensive and slowest to build in the world.

He said: “If building a new hospital takes just two weeks, why should building a new road still take as long as 20 years?

“If GPs’ surgeries can move online, why are most rail passengers still travelling on cardboard tickets?

“We must exploit our new-found capacity to respond at pace and apply it to rapidly improving our infrastructure.”