The transport secretary, Alistair Darling, yesterday promised better lighting, improved sliproads and more efficient signalling at 92 congestion "pinch points" on Britain's roads, as part of a drive to woo motorists which came under fire from environmentalists.
In a speech to the highways agency, Mr Darling sought to shake off the government's reputation for hostility towards drivers, saying it was "nonsense" to talk of a "simple world where you're either pro or anti car".
Declaring that traffic jams "make life a misery", he outlined proposals to crack down on delays by using better technology to monitor for accidents and by levying a daily fee on utilities for digging up roads.
"We need to look at these problems through the eyes of the public," he said. "They're fed up. Rightly so. And they expect us to do something about it."
The highways agency is to spend £145m on 92 priority projects to be completed within five years. The initiatives are largely minor schemes including realigning lanes at the M62's junction 10 near Warrington, installing new roundabouts on the A21 in Sussex and building sliproads at a notorious troublespot on the A66 at Long Newton in Teeside.
Mr Darling revealed he had a personal interest in road congestion, as his father was a civil engineer who helped to build the Chiswick flyover in west London.
A government source described the announcement as "the first step up the mountain that is congestion".
Mr Darling is to rule imminently on a series of bigger roadbuilding projects, including a controversial plan to widen trunk roads to the West Country through the environmentally sensitive Blackdown Hills in Devon.
The government is also exploring ways of levying charges on motorists. Ministers are encouraging local authorities to introduce fees for cars entering city centres, although Mr Darling has expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of the biggest such scheme, mayor Ken Livingstone's £5-a-day fee to enter central London.
Road users generally welcomed the highways agency's focus on "pinch points", although many organisations stressed that the money involved was insignificant.
The AA said £145m represented just 0.1% of the £38bn tax paid by road users every year. A spokesman said: "In a sense, the government's right to draw attention to small improvements. But to have a secretary of state announce pot of paint jobs and junction improvements is quite unusual."
There was similar caution from Richard Turner, chief executive of the Freight Transport Association, which represents lorry drivers. He said: "The plans announced today must mark only the beginning of a fundamental renewal of our roads infrastructure."
But the shadow transport secretary, Tim Collins, delivered a scathing response, claiming that congestion on major roads had risen by "50% to 100%" since 1997: "Unfortunately today's announcement is unlikely to make much difference."
He added: "When Labour came to power they axed almost every bypass project they inherited and in the last five years fewer road projects have been completed than in any comparable period since the second world war."
Friends of the Earth attacked the government for being too soft on motorists. Transport campaigner Tony Bosworth said: "Darling's new road schemes are just another misplaced sticking plaster on Britain's transport crisis.
"Things are going to get worse until the government realises that providing more road space is not the answer."
In its 10-year plan, the government pledged to deliver a reduction in traffic congestion by 2010. But successive transport secretaries have been criticised for their reluctance to take punitive measures to encourage people to leave their cars at home.
Advisers to Mr Darling say he is sympathetic to road charging - he has suggested that a satellite-tracking device in trials for lorries could eventually be installed in every car, as a way of forcing drivers to pay for each journey. But the technology will not be ready for at least a decade.
Ministers believe that drivers are unlikely to tolerate charges unless they first see a noticeable improvement in roads. Utilities could be among the first to bear the brunt, following a trial scheme in Camden and Middlesborough, forcing them to pay to dig up roads.
