Second toll motorway planned
Date: 07-Jul-04
Country: UK
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced consultations on a new toll road to relieve stress on the heavily congested M6 motorway between the two cities.
The highway would link up with the existing "M6 Toll", the country's first, which was opened last December to bypass Birmingham.
"Given the success of the M6 Toll in improving congestion, I believe that it is now right to look at extending the tolled motorway and building a new Expressway," Darling said yesterday.
Motorists gave the scheme a guarded welcome, but environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) said the Labour government had reneged on a pledge not to build more roads.
"We are angry and bitterly disappointed," said FoE's Tony Bosworth. "When it came to power, Labour said that we can't build our way out of congestion. This new toll motorway will encourage more people to drive."
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) welcomed the scheme, saying congestion was costing industry 20 billion pounds a year.
"It is crazy that the world's fourth-largest economy wastes billions of pounds and billions of man hours slumbering in motorway congestion," said the FTA's Geoff Dossetter.
The transport department said the dual-lane scheme would be 10 percent cheaper than widening the existing M6 motorway by one lane in each direction, and, unlike road-widening, would cause no disruption. It might be funded by the private sector.
The RAC motorists' group said its members would welcome an alternative to the congested M6, but called for a coherent strategy for the future. "What happens next time?" said a spokeswoman. "You can't keep building."
