MORE than £420,000 will be ploughed into improving Chelmsford’s roads, pathways and cycle routes.

A total of 32 projects have now been approved to improve people’s safety across the city.

These include improvements to the pedestrian crossing on the A1060 Parkway at Moulsham Street, a new information system at Chelmsford Market Bus Interchange and the installation of 30mph countdown signs in Ford End.

The money will also be used to fund studies looking at whether a new path linking Mayes Lane and Woodhill Road in Danbury and new parking spaces outside Broomfield Parade shops should be provided.

The funding will look to improve 11 public transport and cycling schemes and five road and pathways.

Traffic lights, new road markings and traffic calming measures will also be improved at 13 sites in Chelmsford.

In total, £428,000 will be splashed out on improving the city’s transport network, almost half of the highways panel’s £1million budget.

Councillor Roy Whitehead, chairman of the Chelmsford City Local Highways Panel, said: “We are pleased to be making progress by getting these schemes, which are so important to Chelmsford, agreed, but we know there is still more that we can do.”

Rodney Bass, county coucnillor for highways and transportation, said: “It is important for our roads to be as safe as they can be, so I am grateful to the Local Highways Panels for putting so much time into recommending such practical schemes.”

The Chelmsford projects make up the bulk of 63 road improvement schemes in Essex, which the County Council has agreed to carry out.