Despite the minority Conservative Government and its harsh austerity programme, there is still a trickle of infrastructure improvements reaching completion. However, these were originally commissioned under the Coalition Government by Liberal Democrat Transport and Environment Ministers.
One of particular interest to North Wales and the North West is the 1.5 mile Halton Curve near Runcorn which was completed as planned during the Spring Bank Holiday. It will allow additional passenger services to run in the area from December 2018.
It was completed on time and within the rather modest budget of £18.75m. The passengers between Liverpool and Chester as well as in the Wirral and North Wales will enjoy improved services and an extra 250,000 passenger journeys are expected to take place.
This is a major benefit to a large number of people at a relatively cost compared to grandiose projects like HS2!