AN investment of £360,000 has improved bus travel for passengers in Halton.

The project has been funded by the Liverpool City Region Better Bus Area project (BBA).

This is a collaboration between Merseytravel, Halton, Knowsley and St Helens Borough Councils and bus operators Arriva, Stagecoach, Halton Transport and Huyton Travel.

Together they have been responsible for coordinating and delivering a £3.5 million bus infrastructure improvements in Halton, Knowsley and St Helens during the past four years.

The T-junction at Lunts Heath Road and Wilmere Lane in Widnes was converted into a fully signalised junction.

Previously, at peak hours delays were caused by traffic turning left and right and led to many minor traffic accidents.

The new traffic lights have reduced congestion and collisions.

Real-time information screens have been installed at 17 bus stops.

Bus priority upgrades have been introduced along the Liverpool Road and Hale Road route have helped reduce delays.

Similar improvements have also been made in Widnes town centre at the junction of Leigh Avenue and Kingsway.

Cllr Stan Hill, board member for transportation, said: “These new measures have provided significant improvements at the junctions for both general traffic and public transport in that waiting times and journey times have been reduced and traffic flow has improved.

“The travelling public experienced some delays while these changes were implemented but I'm sure most will agree that these junctions are now much improved."

Colin Stafford managing director for Halton Transport said: “We have been a partner of BBA since the scheme started and we have worked hard to identify and implement major road improvements, real time information screens at bus stops along with a quality partnership route on the 17 service Widnes to St Helens, all of which has seen great improvements to both reliability and customer satisfaction which has seen a growth in patronage.”

A survey has shown that customers are more satisfied with punctuality and reliability of buses since the improvements were introduced.