ST Helens Council has received more than £2.6 million for road improvement works on the A580.

A delegated decision was taken on Friday to accept £2,677,500 of grant funding from the Liverpool City Region Key Route Network Funding Bid.

The money will be used for junction improvements on the A58 Liverpool Road / A580 East Lancs Road junction in Haydock.

The cash windfall is from a £25 million funding package to support 15 highway schemes that will make improvements to the city region’s Key Route Network.

The Key Route Network is made up of the strategic highway routes that are vital to growth in the Liverpool City Region.

The funding will support highways improvements in all six of the combined authority’s districts, as well as upgrades to digital connectivity and bus routes.

Schemes will also include work to improve the condition of the roads, including tackling pot holes, and to allow better traffic flow.

Responsibility for the Key Route Network was devolved to the Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram as part of the city region’s devolution agreement with central government.

Announcing the funding last month, Mr Rotheram, said: “My key priority is to drive economic prosperity for the whole city region and ensuring that we have the right transport infrastructure in place is absolutely vital.

“We have carefully designed our key routes network investment programme to support the economic growth of our region.

“This latest wave of funding will improve the state of our roads and enable better traffic flow on key routes across our city region, bringing benefits for our residents, visitors and businesses.”

This £25 million investment is supported by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Single Investment Fund, funded by capital from central government’s Local Growth Fund 3.