TRANSPORT Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has given his clearest hint yet that Worcester's Carrington Bridge will be dualled – after throwing his weight behind the £63 million project.

The Cabinet Secretary has urged decision-makers in the county to make a formal bid to ministers to get the congested bridge dual-tracked.

Exactly one year ago, just before the 2015 General Election, Mr McLoughlin visited the Southern Link Road to see the current A4440 revamp-first hand.

Worcestershire County Council is deep in a long-running £41 million project to dual the rest of the A4440 which will finish around 2018, but the bridge will be untouched unless it can raise more cash.

Mr McLoughlin has now mentioned the bridge during a House of Commons debate on transport, saying the dualling is "certainly something that should be considered" by the Government.

He has now urged the county's Local Enterprise Partnership to formally make a bid, something which is expected to happen this summer.

Mr McLoughlin, responding to Worcester MP Robin Walker in the Commons, said: "I visited, probably almost a year ago to the day, the bridge to which (Mr Walker) refers.

"I cannot quite remember what was going on at the time.

"I viewed it from a site that was opened by his father (Lord Walker) some 30 years previously.

"The point that he makes about it being a suitable scheme for the local ?majors fund is certainly one that should be considered.

"I urge the LEP and the local authority to ensure they put in an application for it to be considered."

Mr Walker had told Mr McLoughlin he felt the Government's new local major transport fund is "tailor-made for the Carrington Bridge", saying "the finest minds" at the county's LEP are preparing a bid.

"May I say to (Mr McLoughlin) and his team, there should be no wiggle room for the Government in approving this project," he said.

As we revealed two weeks ago, 39 different parts of England including Worcestershire are being invited to bid for cash from a £1.8 billion 'Growth Deal' pot.

The £1.8 billion Growth Deal cash is being distributed via Local Enterprise Partnerships, with Worcestershire's LEP having the bridge dualling down as a key 'ask' from Government.

All the bids have to be in this summer, with the county council already setting aside £7 million for the Carrington Bridge and in need of £63 million to do the work.

The new local major transport fund is a separate £475 million pot exclusively for road schemes, aimed at mopping up projects deemed too expensive for the Growth Deal kitty.