An issue I am frequently asked about is the amount of on-going road works in our area especially by those who regularly use the Toll Bar Island on the A45, which is right at the very edge of the Kenilworth and Southam constituency.
This notorious junction has been of concern to road users for many years and thanks to a £106 million Government investment programme, the improvement work is well underway, as anyone who travels the road frequently will know.
There has been much mention in the media that the project has been disrupted after voids were found in the cement used to build the bridge supports. I recently made a site visit to see for myself how the project is advancing and to find out more about the delays. I was pleased to learn that solutions have been found for the issues encountered on the new roundabout bridges’ supports and all parties are working hard to complete this project as early as possible. I know how important it is for road users and we should expect to see the new bridges opened by the Spring and for the project to be open for traffic by December 2016.
Whilst on my visit I also learnt about the skills and learning centre that operates on site and provides new employment opportunities and apprenticeships. Schemes such as this are continuing to create more high quality apprenticeships and recent figures show that 268,000 new apprenticeships have been started since last year’s general election - that's over 2.6 million apprenticeships in total since May 2010, who are all getting the skills they need to secure a good job and get on in life.