Drivers and pedestrians across Rotherham will benefit from a £770,000 investment to make roads safer and more reliable.
Under the new plans, £225,000 will be allocated to deliver the first prioritised pedestrian crossing, following work done by the Transportation Service that prioritised requests received from communities over the last year.
There will also be improvements to School Crossing Patrol sites that focus on making roads safer for students and their families to cross.
Rotherham’s bridges will also receive attention, with £426,400 dedicated to repair and maintenance of existing structures and to help catch future issues before they escalate.
Specific funding will target Grafton New Bridge concrete and parapet repairs, as well as a Bridge Joint Replacement Programme, and minor essential maintenance arising from inspections.
Councillor John Williams, Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, said: “These funding streams enable the council to deliver plan works that keep our network safe, resilient and fit for the future.
“We recently took through the council’s budget for the year ahead. And that also included a number of really positive investments to support this area of work on road safety and structures and highway maintenance.”
Alongside this package, a number of further investment commitments have been proposed in the Council’s Budget.
This includes a further £268,000 to design five more crossings to be ready when further funding becomes available, £150,000 for design work for improvements at the Treeton Lane and Main Street junction, and £160,000 over two years for road safety plans.
The council also committed £1.9 million for repairs to the parapet at Old Flatts Bridge on Sheffield Parkway, to allow the currently closed lane to be reopened
This is in addition to the £600,000 previously allocated, and £1 million to support a more proactive structural inspection programme.
Councillor Chris Read said: “It’s really welcome to see some preparatory work going on which we know covers quite a number of local schemes that residents have raised with us.
“It’s common these days that we’re going to petition a full council from residents concerned about a road safety issue in their area.
“We know about the works at Treeton Crossroads that the residents have long wanted to see there. So, to put funding which enables us to get that into order is really important.”