LONG-awaited upgrades to key North-East roads are set to be unveiled today (Monday, November 10)by the Prime Minister as part of a £15bn investment strategy.

David Cameron is expected to confirm improvements to the A1 north of Newcastle, the A1 Newcastle-Gateshead western bypass and trans-Pennine routes in the region.

Addressing business leaders at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual conference in London, the Prime Minister will set out how the Government will unveil what he will describe as the first ever long-term roads investment strategy for the UK in the upcoming Autumn Statement.

The proposals will see investment in more than 100 projects on the strategic road network by the end of the decade, with hundreds of extra lane miles on motorways and trunk roads set to be created.

Announcing what he will call the "biggest, boldest and most far-reaching road improvement programme in four decades", the Prime Minister is expected to say: “Our long-term economic plan is turning Britain round. And nowhere is this better demonstrated than in what we are doing on infrastructure.

"We inherited a huge budget deficit and frankly, as we went about finding savings, it would have been easy for us to cancel Crossrail, cancel HS2, cancel projects that were politically controversial. But we didn’t. We know to secure Britain’s future, we need world-class infrastructure."

The strategy will outline set to take place during the next parliament from 2015/16 to 2020/21.

Campaigners have called for the A1 north of Newcastle to be made into dual carriageway all the way to Scotland.

However, a scoping document published earlier this year revealed that the Department for Transport is exploring two carriageways on an extra 10.5 miles of the route only.

Work to widen a four-miles stretch of the A1 on the western bypass at Gateshead began earlier this year, with a third lane being created in both directions.

However, MPs and business leaders say further improvements are needed to fully tackle congestion.

Details of the trans-Pennine routes set to be improved were not given on Sunday night.

Long-awaited dualling work to two stretches of the A66 from Scotch Corner and Cumbria were completed in 2007, however community leaders have repeatedly called for further work to be done to make the route safer.