Furness’ roads are set to be improved further, thanks to an £18 million funding award from the government.

Cumbria County Council has been awarded £17.8 million from the ‘Levelling Up Fund’, round three, to make improvements to the A590, A595, and A5086.

The money will see resurfacing, drainage improvements, and bridge maintenance works be carried out along a broad corridor between Barrow in Furness, and Cockermouth.

The local Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness, Simon Fell, pledged to campaign for ‘safer, smoother roads with shorter journey times’ during the general election campaign in 2019 welcomed the news today.

Commenting, Simon said:

“In the run up to my election in 2019, one of local peoples clear priorities was to make the A590 and our other major roads such as the A595 smoother and safer with shorter commute times for all road users.

“Since being elected, I’ve worked together with Cumbria County Council, the DfT, and National Highways to keep our major roads front and centre of the government’s minds for upgrades.

“I’m delighted that the Government has awarded Cumbria £17.8m through the Levelling Up Fund to improve the road network between Barrow & Cockermouth. I was very glad to support this excellent bid, led by Cumbria County Council.”

In a letter to the Leader of Cumbria County Council, the Levelling Up Minister Dehenna Davison MP praised the strength of the application from Cumbria County Council, which identifies improving resilience along Cumbria’s Energy Coast

The Energy Coast improvements works are a further boost to Furness’ infrastructure, and come alongside the £15 million DfT, Cumbria LEP, and Cumbria County Council funded bypass at Grizebeck. Work is set to begin on the Grizebeck bypass this year.

Commenting further, Mr Fell said:

“This funding is hugely important to improving the quality and reliability of both the A590 and A595. Most people reading this will have sat in traffic for far too long as a result of a failure on one of these two roads. The £17.8m will help to limit such incidents, and give us a more reliable, and safer, road network for years to come.

“These improvements complement the £15million bypass at Grizebeck that will remove the bottleneck at Dove Ford, further improving journey times and safety.”