M4 diversion route through Reading receives cash boost
The Government has handed over £500,000 to help maintain a strategic route through the town
Reading has received a half a million-pound sum to keep a major diversion route that runs through the town well maintained.
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.
Whenever drivers are diverted, they are taken off the motorway and diverted using the A33 and the A4 roads which run through Reading.
The route takes drives through Rose Kiln Lane, Berkeley Avenue and Bath Road.
Now the council has been given a total of £500,000 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 of those years.
The funding will be invested in five measures to improve the roads that make up the route.
Work will involve the resurfacing of 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 retexture 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.
It was also pointed out that the investment allows the council to allocate its own resources to other road projects elsewhere.