The Projects

Funding from the £10m levels and moors highways funds will be allocated to the following projects:

• Approximately £1m has already been used to clear-up the area and make the roads safe to use following floods. We are seeking to claim some of this back through a separate government fund (The Bellwin Fund).
• £75k to put in place permanent signage and gating for traffic diversion routes in the event of future floods.
• £1.6m to rebuild and resurface roads using more flood resilient surfacing where required.
• £270k to undertake feasibility studies for major road improvements. This will enable us to consider in detail the feasibility of raising roads at Muchelney, A361 East Lyng – Burrowbridge, A372 Beer Wall and other locations. We will consult communities to agree preferred solutions, and prepare scheme designs.
• £750k to raise one road into Muchelney by next Winter. The choice of road to raise and the scheme design will be established through the feasibility study.  We are working closely with the Environment Agency to establish how high we need to raise the roads to avoid flooding in future. The choice of road will be discussed with the community and will depend on which schemes can be completed in time for next winter.
• £4m for a joint County Council and Environment Agency Scheme at the A372 to raise the road, install sluice gates and enlarge the culvert under the road for the river Sowy.  This will stop the road flooding and help reduce the frequency and duration of flooding on the levels and moors. The detailed scheme design and cost and confirmation that this is the best solution at this location will be established through the feasibility study.

Funding from the £12.3m Government highways resilience funds for countywide repairs*:

•          £750k for repairs to bridges and other structures.
•          £5.5m to surface dress approximately 250km of roads where damage has not been severe.
•          £2.4m for resurfacing approximately 20km of damaged roads.
•          £1.5m for patching to repair the remaining worst potholed areas of road.
•          £250k for repairing approximately 6km of damaged footways.
•          £400k for drainage.
•          £1m for a deep clean of the drainage system and verge works to manage water flow.
•          £500k to stabilise and reconstruct embankments.
•          £35k for repairs to rights of way.

* Note that a number of these programmes will include road edge damage repairs.

Costs of all the above are early estimates and some of the early highway maintenance works have started already.

Once feasibility studies and design work for the larger projects are completed later in the spring, costs will be finalised and decisions will be made on the funding of other projects.

Feasibility studies aim to be completed swiftly to enable critical works to progress before next winter.