A major road in Bristol will become the ‘world’s most expensive bus lane’, a councillor claims.
More than £23 million has been committed to upgrade the A4 Portway, with works ongoing.
This includes 24-hour bus lanes, cutting speed limits, better junctions, road resurfacing and improved shared paths for pedestrians and cyclists.
A report to Bristol City Council audit committee said it was in the top 10 of the authority’s largest projects in terms of money to be spent, at number nine.
Cllr Jonathan Hucker (Conservative, Stockwood) told the meeting: “The Portway is costing a colossal amount of money. When it opened 100 years ago in 1926, the Portway was the world’s most expensive road. It cost £800,000 to construct – £42m in today’s money. So I would be interested to see how that compares with the Portway project today. When it was the world’s most expensive road then, I suspect it will have the world’s most expensive bus lanes when the project is finished,” he told the meeting on September 29.
Councillors on the transport and connectivity committee agreed to increase the scheme’s budget by £1.35million from £21.7million to £23.1million in February because of rising costs.
The money comes from the government and is distributed by the West of England Combined Authority (Weca).
By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporter