An upgrade of the Southwest's A303 looks certain after a transport minister said the scheme was "low-hanging fruit".
Roads Minister Robert Goodwill's comments came as Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin insisted the South West "will not be left behind" over infrastructure improvements.
The Government is currently considering a £1 billion-plus upgrade of the A303 linking the South West to the capital and an alternative route to the storm-battered coastal Dawlish line.
At a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Mr Goodwill said: "At this stage, at least, we are looking at the low hanging fruit where we can deliver on some projects and certainly the A303 route down to the South West is probably known to people for its traffic jams in the same way the A47, the A27, the A1 north of Newcastle that we are focusing on."
He added there are there are "other parts of the country that are going to need a bit of help" beyond the HS2 rail link from London to Birmingham.
He said: "We need to be aware that HS2 is going to improve connectivity to Birmingham Manchester and Leeds.
"East Anglia, the South West and the North as well is where we are delivering projects. I hope we are doing it in a way that is not politicised, and that actually we can defend in terms of the congestion we are trying to address and the road safety objectives as well."
In his main hall speech, Mr McLoughlin said Britain "deserves a transport system that works".
He continued: "We've opened enough miles of extra motorway lanes to get from London to Lancaster. We've got builders at work clearing traffic bottlenecks all over the country. Soon we'll set out plans to improve vital congested roads like the A303, the A27 and the A1 in the north."
The notorious A303, A30 and A358 corridor between London and the South West, is subject to a Treasury review. An announcement is expected later this year.
Mr McLoughlin has also promised the Network Rail review into alternatives to Devon's coastal railway, which collapsed into the sea this winter, would lead to building protection that "matched up to the weather conditions we faced".
