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October 16 2015

Never been a better time to work in our highways industry, says MP

Andrew Jones, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Department for Transport, spoke at the recent Highways Magazine Excellence Awards and declared that there has never been a better time to be working on Britain’s roads.

The announcement comes following pressure for the government to spend more money on improving and developing the highways system in the UK.

As well as getting feedback from constituencies across the country that more needs to be spent on roads, the state of the nation’s highways system has also been noted globally. The World Economic Forum ranked Britain 29 th in the world for road quality in the latest Global Competitiveness Report, below what the country would hope to achieve.

Billions of pounds to be invested in Britain’s roads

A number of announcements have been made over the last few months about the budget the government will be dedicating to the UK’s roads.

At the Highways Magazine Excellence Awards, Andrew Jones summarised, “We are spending over £2 billion on local schemes. £6 billion to maintain the local network. And an unprecedented £15 billion on our strategic network. We will get 1,300 miles of new motorway lanes. New surfaces for 80% of our most important existing roads. Better links to our airports and our sea ports.

“Altogether, it’s by far the biggest investment in our roads for a generation. And it means that the highways industry is a thriving growth industry.”

This long-awaited investment in developing the country’s highways is now on such a large scale that recruitment of skilled workers will be widespread and on an equally large scale. Key projects that will need skilled highways workers include the A1 north of Newcastle, the A14 from Cambridge and the A303 in the South West.

Read Andrew Jones’ full speech at the awards ceremony here.

For more information on the highways sector visit our dedicated highways recruitment page.

Visit our jobs page to see current opportunities in the highways industry with McGinley.

Image Credit: Carlton Reid (flickr.com)

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