Road users in Wokingham will benefit from a £24m investment to reduce congestion.

The relief road will feature a shared-use 3m-wide pathway alongside it to encourage greener transport

Roads minister Baroness Vere announced funding the new 2.3km Arborfield Cross Relief Road, which will link the A327 Reading Road to the A327 Eversley Road, which is designed to provide traffic relief for the village and local community.

The announcement added that the relief road will feature a shared-use 3m-wide pathway alongside it, to encourage use by cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders.

The investment in the new route plan is to counter rising congestion forecasts, which predict that without the relief road in place, would rise to around 3,200 vehicles per hour.

The scheme is designed to divert traffic away from busier routes, and ensure that the local villages of Arborfield and Arborfield Cross are not bombarded by passing  non-local traffic.

Leader of Wokingham Borough Council John Halsall said: “This is exceptional news for the borough, reducing congestion is a principal objective for us at Wokingham and we welcome this funding to assist in the delivery of the identified infrastructure.”

This announcement is the latest in a string of investments made by the Department for Transport, spending more than £6.6bn between 2015 and 2021.