Commenting on the findings of the Transport Select Committee’s Inquiry into the Major Road Network, Tim Green, Director of the Road Users Alliance, said: “The Committee’s unequivocal statement that “the major road network is the most important part of the UK’s transport infrastructure” injects some welcome realism into the transport debate.

“Whichever Chancellor finds himself in Number 11 Downing Street after the election, he will be facing the same facts. Britain depends on the road network. 92% of passenger journeys and 87% of freight movements are made by road.

“The importance of the road network, now recognised by Parliamentarians, must also be reflected in the proportion of the transport budget invested in the mode on which Britain’s people and business rely.”

In its report, The Major Road Network, the Committee recommended that:-

• “some new initiatives to construct and upgrade motorways” are needed to increase the UK’s economic competitiveness in Europe.
• 900 miles of single carriageway trunk roads should be dualled in order to increase capacity and safety
• Stronger strategic leadership is needed on road network issues from the Department for Transport
• Investment is required to stop the economy being damaged by congestion.
• Hard shoulder running should not be seen as a substitute for motorway widening

Tim Green added “RUA has consistently argued the case for all of these policies. We are delighted that the Transport Select Committee has added its voice to the fight for a realistic UK roads policy.”

Notes

Click here to download the Transport Select Committee Report.

Tim Green, Director of the Road Users Alliance, gave evidence to the Transport Select Committee during this Inquiry on 24^th June 2009.

A copy of RUA’s written submission to the Committee is available on request.

Commenting on today’s publication of the High Speed Rail White Paper, Tim Green, Director of the Road Users’ Alliance, said: “This Government is already devoting the lions’ share of the transport budget to less than 10% of the need. Proposals to spend a further £30 bn on just one High Speed Rail Line simply entrench this bizarre distortion in transport priorities which threatens our long term economic future, our environmental performance and the personal safety of the travelling public. All the celebrated European high speed rail networks run alongside strategic road networks which are typically twice as good as the UK’s.”

“If the Government has £30bn available to spend on transport, the best route to financial recovery and sustained growth would be to put this into in the transport mode which moves 92% of passengers and 87% of freight - the road network. Road users not only fund all road investment many times over, but via their road taxes they are also the only mode of transport to cover their carbon costs.”

“Hard choices will face whichever party leader finds himself in Downing Street after the election. Will limited public funds be wasted on a vanity project, or invested in the mode on which both people and business rely almost entirely?”

According to Road File 2010, the annual compilation of transport statistics compiled and published by RUA, 70 per cent of commuting and business journeys are made by car, while nearly 90 per cent of freight is moved on the road network. Across Britain, only 8 per cent of commuters take the train to work.