Published Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 16:27
More than £15m is set to be invested in improving roads across Blackburn with Darwen – believed to be the largest amount ever committed in a single year.
A new report to the Council’s Executive Board sets out how the funding for 2026/27 will be spent, including resurfacing roads, improving pedestrian routes, better road safety, new street lighting and more.
Included in the full list of planned works, which can be viewed on the Council’s website, are upgrades for a busy stretch of the A666 – from Darwen town centre right to the roundabout by McDonald’s at Ewood.
This includes the crossing at the bottom of Earnsdale Road, which residents have asked to be reviewed. Highways bosses last year committed to finding a solution to ease the pressure around the busy junction, and it’s now been included as part of almost £4m allocated for upgraded traffic signals and bus routes.
More than 50 resurfacing schemes have also been identified across the borough, including Preston New Road, Whalley New Road, Yew Tree Drive, Bolton Road at the Infirmary, as well as sections of Darwen town centre. This builds on the 65 roads improved in 2025/26.
And a well-used stretch of Broken Stone Road will be improved too – again, something residents in the area have called for.
Other projects include improved active travel routes – making it easier for walking, wheeling and cycling – bridge repairs, improvements to public rights of way, bridleways and more.
Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Deputy Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council and Executive Member for Growth and Development, said:
For many years, under the previous Government, our highways have been underfunded, and it’s really been felt, so it’s fantastic to be able to announce £15m of new investment for the coming year.
To put it into perspective, it’s almost four times more than the £3.8m awarded for 2022/23 and we believe it’s the largest amount of funding we have ever received for improvements to our roads, which is staggering.
We now want to make sure every single penny counts and we have carefully planned how it can best be spent to benefit residents right across Blackburn with Darwen.
Included in the list is the junction at the bottom of Earnsdale Road in Darwen. Residents have asked us to review the lights there and we now have the funding we need to be able to do that, which is brilliant.
As part of that scheme, we will be looking at the whole stretch of the A666 from Darwen town centre to Ewood, including how the traffic signals work together, with the aim of making it easier for residents to get around.
There’ll also be another big push on resurfacing as we know it’s the best way to prevent potholes – something that is a huge bugbear for us all.
Of course, this is just the start too. We need to keep building on this year-on-year and are leading on Transport for the Lancashire Combined County Authority to help secure improved funding from Government for Lancashire going forwards.
The Lancashire Combined County Authority – made up of Blackburn with Darwen Council, Lancashire County Council and Blackpool Council – is working on a new Local Transport Plan, with proposals to upgrade transport routes across the whole area.
Residents were consulted on a draft last year and it’s now being finalised alongside a new implementation plan, setting out schemes requiring significant investment.
Councillor Mahmood added:
We know that upgrading our roads and footpaths is a priority for our residents and we’ll be working incredibly hard over the next year to deliver real change through this new funding.
We’ve already delivered on some hugely important schemes over the past few 12 months and as the weather starts to improve, our teams will once again be moving on at pace – improving the roads and routes that our residents and businesses in our borough rely on.
In addition to this record amount of new funding, £30m has also been committed to upgrading transport routes in and around South East Blackburn, this includes Government funding and council contributions. As part of that, work is now underway to widen Junction 5 of the M65 to reduce congestion and improve air quality.
And, on top of this, additional funding is being pledged through new developments in the borough too.
Councillor Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council and the Transport Lead for the Lancashire Combined County Authority, said:
During the 14 years of Conservative and Liberal austerity – when public spending was being regularly cut – we always knew what a difference would be provided by a government that believed in public spending as an investment in local infrastructure; thank goodness that we now have that government and councils are able to make these positive interventions.
You can read the full report and view a list of proposed schemes on the Blackburn with Darwen Council website: www.blackburn.gov.uk
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