Almost £10 million to help tackle city's pothole-plagued roads and improve highways over next year

A dedicated fund of £500,000, included within that figure, has been set aside to tackle potholes and will support the city’s existing pothole budget.

Over the past year more than 6,800 potholes have been repaired on routes across the city, with more than 53,000 pothole repairs made in Wolverhampton during the past decade.

Other proposed highway improvements planned over the next year include major maintenance and resurfacing schemes across the city, road safety and traffic management work, upgrading the council’s car park management system, street lighting improvements and the delivery of further safer routes to schools programmes.

There will be improvements to ring road and city centre signage as well as structural reviews and works on a number of bridges.

In addition, there will be the culmination of the council’s programme to convert older street lights to LEDs to reduce carbon emissions.

More than 24,550 street lights have already been converted.

The council will carry out the work under the next phase of its highway capital programme, which has a total budget of £9.7 million.

Funding for the programme has come through external grants and council resources.

Since 2020/21, the programme has delivered more than £30 million worth of improvement and development work.

Many of the projects have been carried out thanks to the council’s success in bidding for funding through the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Completed improvements in 2023/24 include six road safety and safer routes to schools projects, 4.5km of carriageway has been resurfaced and 13.8km of carriageway has received surface treatments.

In addition, there has been an expansion of Wolverhampton’s CCTV network, further roll-out of electronic driver information signs which support the new guidance system managing car parks across the city and extension of the council’s smart technology systems which support traffic information.

Councillor Craig Collingswood, cabinet member for environment and climate change at Wolverhampton Council, said: “This is a major investment in our transport network and shows our commitment to providing a smooth and seamless journey through our city.

“We know that the condition and safety of our roads really matters to our residents, and it matters to us too.

"This is why we’re making the most of all available funding by ensuring this additional £500,000 helps to tackle potholes, a problem which affects roads both here in Wolverhampton and all across the country."

The planned improvements are pending approval and will be discussed at Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet meeting next Wednesday.