Reading Borough Council has received £500,000 to maintain a major diversion route through the town.
Roads in Reading are used as a major diversion route during M4 closures, which can occur as a result of emergencies and planned highway works.
When drivers are diverted, they are diverted using the A33 and the A4 roads through Reading, using Rose Kiln Lane, Berkeley Avenue and Bath Road.
Now the council has been given the money from National Highways to keep the route maintained, as it is designated as a part of its strategic M4 diversion route.
The investment will be made over two financial years, 2023/24 and 2024/25, with the council receiving a maximum of £250,000 for each. The funding will be invested in five measures to improve the roads that make up the route.
Work will involve resurfacing Bath Road between its junctions with Berkeley Avenue and Southcote Lane, the Rose Kiln Lane junction south of Matalan, and Rose Kiln Lane between its junctions with Berkeley Avenue and Reading Link Retail Park.
The council will also re-texture Bath Road going eastbound between its junction with Liebenrood Road and Southcote Lane, and introduce new durable road markings along the whole stretch of the A33 from Junction 11 to Rose Kiln Lane.
The projects were agreed at the last meeting of the housing, neighbourhoods and leisure committee.
The council’s highways team was praised for its work in devising the five road improvement schemes and being named the Best Council Services Team at the Municipal Journal Awards 2023.
It was also pointed out that the investment allows the council to allocate its own resources to other road projects elsewhere.
Cllr Doug Creswell (Green, Katesgrove) welcomed the project for resurfacing at the junction of the A33 at Rose Kiln Lane.
He said: “I look forward to that getting fixed because I get a lot of earache about that.”
The five projects were approved unanimously by the council’s housing, neighbourhoods and leisure committee.
