Sectors · Roads and transport

31 UK and Irish road and transport projects you can follow, with the latest news

See every road and transport project on our map, from motorway junctions to bus corridors, with the date we last checked each one. Read the latest transport items from The Wire alongside, each one traced to its source.

Bidding for road contracts in England? 3 numbers you need first

Roads here means the motorways and major A-roads that National Highways runs in England and the local roads that councils look after. Before you bid, check whether National Highways or a council is putting the work out to tender, because each has its own rules and timetable.

Start with the five-year plan for England's main roads. The third Road Investment Strategy, published on 26 March 2026, puts over £27 billion into the network from April 2026 to March 2031. Renewals get £8.4 billion of that, more than twice the £3.8 billion for major upgrades, so expect plenty of resurfacing and repair in the tender lists.

Watch the Lower Thames Crossing, the biggest single job. It is a new road linking Kent and Essex through twin tunnels under the Thames, and it has had planning permission since March 2025. The Autumn Budget 2025 added £891 million to finish the publicly funded works.

The government wants private investors to pay for the rest. Its preferred option, called a regulated asset base model, would have a regulated private company finance, build, run and maintain the crossing, overseen by an independent regulator. For that to happen, the Highways (Financing) Bill, introduced to Parliament on 10 September 2026, has to pass.

FigureWhat it isSource and date
Over £27 billionFunding for England's motorways and major A-roads, April 2026 to March 2031Department for Transport, Road Investment Strategy 3, 26 March 2026
£8.4 billionOf that, the share for renewing roads, bridges and structures already thereDepartment for Transport, Road Investment Strategy 3, 26 March 2026
£891 millionExtra public money for the Lower Thames Crossing's publicly funded worksAutumn Budget 2025, as set out in Road Investment Strategy 3

Key dates for you between now and March 2027

Follow the Highways (Financing) Bill if you want to know when the crossing's main works can be financed. A committee of MPs is now examining it line by line, and its next sitting is on 12 November 2026.

Check the frameworks your local councils buy through as well. These are agreements with approved suppliers, some run by a single council and many shared across a region, so the tender you want may sit on one you have never seen.

Read the latest roads news in The Wire below, with a link to each source. Open any project on our map to see when we last checked it. The lists below include Irish projects, which our Ireland volumes cover separately.

Not sure which of our reports you need? Email book@gridteamai.com and we'll point you to the right one. Figures checked 9 November 2026.

Know a road or transport project we have missed? Tell us at press@gridteamai.com.

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On our map: 31 roads and transport projects

Most recently checked first.