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The Treasury has announced it will spend 拢28bn on improvements to the UK鈥檚 roads over six years from 2014.

Outlining the government鈥檚 capital spending plans today, treasury secretary Danny Alexander said the plan was the 鈥渂iggest programme of investment in our roads in 40 years鈥�.

He committed to support the Highways Agency鈥檚 complete pipeline of national projects over the course of the next parliament.

Alexander also said he would 鈥渢ake action to fix the backlog of maintenance, which has left road surfaces in communities up and down the country crumbling鈥� with 拢10bn of investment for maintenance between 2015 and 2021.

He said that 拢4bn of this would be invested in the Highways Agency鈥檚 national road network and the remaining 拢6bn would be distributed to local authorities to spend on improving local roads.

To deliver the improvement in roads the Treasury said it would turn the Highways Agency into a 鈥減ublically-owned corporation鈥�. It said this would end the cycle of stop-start investment in roads and deliver efficiencies worth 拢600m by 2020-21.

Institution of Civil Engineers director general Nick Baveystock said: 鈥淭he government鈥檚 commitment to provide our strategic roads network with the long-term funding certainty it needs is excellent news and should signal the end of the 鈥榮top and start鈥� funding which has hindered effective maintenance and management of this vital asset for too long.

鈥淭he 拢10bn investment for road repairs, with 拢6bn allocated for local roads, is also a positive step and will go some way to clearing the 拢10.5bn local roads backlog.

鈥淭hese funds however, must be complemented by a focused, joint central and local government programme for the work.

鈥淕iven the significant pressure on local authority budgets, this will ensure the funds are protected, spent in a cost efficient way and do ultimately result in improved road conditions for the UK.鈥�