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Motorway Madness?
By Roger Harrabin
Environment Correspondent
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Motorists should be charged for every mile they drive on congested motorways and city streets, according to advisers preparing to report to the government on many of Britain's most heavily-used road corridors.
Regional teams commissioned by ministers to unlock jams throughout the regions will say motorway congestion is intolerable in many places - and getting worse.
Some favour widening the motorways. But others say drivers should have to pay for any new road space - or the new roads will simply fill up with extra traffic.
The findings of the study teams will present a major challenge to politicians. The groups are due to report throughout the year.
Denvil Coombe, an independent consultant for the studies in Yorkshire, southern Scotland and the M25 corridor told Today that if politicians duck the challenge of road pricing they'll leave future generations with even worse traffic jams.
Sixty per cent of driver surveyed on the M1 said they'd be prepared to pay a charge if it smoothed their journey to work. Cash from the charging should be used to vastly improve public transport, Mr Coombe says.
The say politicians should be brave enough to back road pricing - but they want the motorways expanded first, come what may.
say they think road pricing might be helpful to drivers - but that it's not a short-term solution. They want any future tolls to be offset with cuts in petrol tax or road tax to benefit poorer drivers in rural areas.
They want roads expanded first.
Denvil Coombe argues this would encourage people to drive even further, which would lead to greater congestion on motorway approach roads. Within a decade the expanded motorways would be clogged once more.
fear that ministers under pressure to deliver on transport will take the easy option of building roads, but will ignore the rail network because it's too expensive, and avoid congestion charging because of the political risk. They say this would be the worst possible outcome.
Find out more about the regional studies due to report through the year.
LINKS
- the Confederation of British Industry
- Royal Automobile Club
- Transport think tank
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Commuters must put up with traffic jams, coming... |
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...and going. |
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