HIGHWAYS bosses have rethought how to spend almost £2m earmarked for upgrading Lancashire’s roads.

New schemes are set to be funded after previous projects were either amended or scrapped.

The biggest change is the postponement of Lancashire County Council's plan to redesign one of the two roundabouts at junction 13 of the M65, after it emerged the overhaul would actually worsen delays in the short-term.

Traffic modelling revealed that it would take until 2022 for the increased stops caused by the proposed addition of traffic lights on the eastern roundabout at Scotland Road to be outweighed by increased delays caused by a forecast growth in the volume of traffic.

The junction is not expected to reach its full capacity until 2025.

“It seems pointless to spend £1.6m on that roundabout to make it worse for several years,” said County Cllr Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways.

“In 2025, I will make sure the money is available for the original scheme,” he added.

Much of the cash reserved for the scheme will now be redirected to help relieve congestion at the Rose Grove junction in Burnley, where the A679 meets the A646.

There is a £1.5m funding gap in a £3m project already planned for the location – and the reallocated funding will enable it to go ahead.

The scheme is also intended to make the junction safer for pedestrians by providing crossing facilities in all directions.

Work is expected to take just under two years to complete.

Plans to improve the operation of junction 31 of the M6 at Samlesbury are still being developed, with a traffic signal efficiency study being undertaken in the short-term.

However, officers have concluded that the nearby junction of the A59 and A677, close to the Samlesbury Hotel, formerly Swallow Hotel, will not require an upgrade for the next decade – in spite of the fact that it is a key route connecting the area’s developing Enterprise Zone to the motorway network. Major works were last carried out at the location back in 2009.

A £0.5m contingency fund for all of the planned upgrade works has also been created.