Millions plugged into M-way plans

Junctions 12 - at Gaydon - and 14 - at Europa Way in Leamington - are, under plans drawn up by the county council, to undergo works including the lengthening of a slip road and the addition of a dual carriageway section and new signage.

Cllr Peter Butlin, the county councillor responsible for transport and highways issues, said: “Traffic waiting to leave the motorway at junctions 12 and 14 causes queuing on the hard shoulder during morning peak periods.

“Queues of up to 2km can form at junction 12, while queuing at junction 14 sometimes extends back to junction 15, which creates a risk of high speed collisions due to the mix of stationary and fast moving traffic close together.

“We have decided to act and our engineers have designed two schemes which will make the motorway junctions safer for drivers and relieve traffic congestion at these bottlenecks.”

The Highways Agency has earmarked funding to carry out the works and the county council has allocated £3 million towards the £6.3 million scheme. The remainder is being sought from the Government. The council aims to carry out and complete the work during 2015.

At junction 14, the work aims to improve the A452 Europa Way roundabouts to help increase capacity for traffic coming off the motorway. This is expected to cost £1.3 million and work will begin later this year.