Several important roads in the South East have been officially recognised as major routes which can now qualify for improvements from national funds, after Transport for the South East made the case for them to Government.

Inclusion of the routes in the Major Roads Network (MRN), announced by the Department for Transport this week, underlines their strategic importance to regional and national travel.

A fund of £3.5 billion is available to improve these key routes across the UK and TfSE will play a major role in identifying priorities in the South East.

The MRN is made up of vital A roads administered by local authorities and sits below the national network of motorway and trunk roads managed by Highways England.

The MRN includes many of the suggestions made by TfSE during the consultation held by the Department for Transport.

The South East roads added to the MRN include:

• The A259 coast road between Chichester in West Sussex and Eastbourne in East Sussex
• A3020, A3054 and A3051 on the Isle of Wight
• A 21-mile length of the A2 in Kent
• A320 in Surrey
• A4 east of Reading in Berkshire
• Additions to the network within Portsmouth and Southampton

Cllr Keith Glazier, chairman of TfSE, said: “This shows how we are already providing strategic direction to the development of transport in our region. We’re very pleased to see the DfT reflect so much of what we said were regional priorities for the South East and we warmly welcome the publication of the Major Roads Network.

“We look forward to working with the transport authorities here in the South East and with the DfT to develop a pipeline of improvement projects on these roads which will improve journeys and grow our economy.”