More than £40million to be spent on improving Derbyshire's roads

More than £40million will be spent on improving roads and pavements across Derbyshire over the next 18 months – including the repair of a High Peak road damaged by a landslip.
A collapse during floods last year saw 20 metres of road between Abney and Abney Grange closed.A collapse during floods last year saw 20 metres of road between Abney and Abney Grange closed.
A collapse during floods last year saw 20 metres of road between Abney and Abney Grange closed.

Derbyshire County Council usually spends around £23million a year on road maintenance and improvements.

This year extra money has been pledged by the government for road maintenance, including potholes, and the council has successfully bid for a further £5million for retaining wall and drainage works on the A6 between Matlock and Whatstandwell.

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More than £3million will be spent on vital maintenance work on bridges and retaining walls, with 21 sets of traffic lights that are nearing the end of their working lives being replaced.

To prevent accidents more than £1million will be spent on road safety schemes, such as putting down skid resistant surfaces or changes to road junctions.

And two roads currently closed because of landslips will be repaired – Lea Road near Cromford and Abney Clough in the High Peak.

Work by specialist contractors starts this month, with the roads expected to re-open by the end of the year.

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Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, councillor Simon Spencer, said: “This investment in our road network will make a significant difference to everyone who lives, works or travels through Derbyshire.

“I’m delighted that the government has recognised the need for additional funding and also that we’ve been successful in bidding for extra money for specific schemes.

“It all adds up to a huge investment in our roads.”

To help deliver the work the council are about to start a recruitment drive for civil engineers.

Skills in design, scheme delivery, maintenance and more are all needed at a variety of different level from managers to civil engineering technicians.

More information about becoming a civil engineer and the jobs available can be found by logging on to derbyshire.gov.uk/civilengineeringjobs.