Get news on roads regularly from the excellent campaigning organisation Road Block 

National Audit Office investigation into rising road costs

The National Audit Office has confirmed they are undertaking an investigation into the spiralling cost of the roads programme. Currently the schemes are increasing an average 42% from when they are first approved to the most current estimate. This is not only because of the rising cost of construction, but also because it is a well known fact that roadbuilders lie about the cost of their pet projects in order to gain approval. Road Block will be meeting the NAO shortly to discuss the reasons for the increases. If you have hard evidence of reasons for rising costs for your road, please get in touch with the Road Block office.

 
Highways Agency roadbuilding budget almost doubles in one year

Buried deep in the recently published 2006/7 Highways Agency Business Plan was the revelation that their road building budget had almost doubled in just one year. In 2005/6 they had £589 million for roadbuilding, and this financial year it leapt up to £1046 million!  They have stolen money from the traffic management and technology improvements budgets (all the things they are supposed to be directing the money towards, rather than more road building). They were roundly criticised for this by the National Audit Office in 2004.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1375601,00.html

 

Government giving go-ahead to more roadbuilding

During March and April a number of massive road schemes were depressingly given the go-ahead. The A419 Blunsdon Bypass in Gloucestershire went ahead despite a 124% cost increase since it was first approved, and it will increase pressure for more roadbuilding in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Also the M6 extension up to Carlisle was given the go-ahead, despite the costs having gone up 280%. Ironically the day after the Climate Change Programme Review revealed how the government was failing to get CO2 emissions down, it wasn’t hard to see why as they gave the go-ahead to the £209 million traffic generating Mersey Gateway road bridge. Then the government approved a huge cost increase for the controversial High and Low Newton Bypass which goes through the Lake District National Park. A number of smaller local schemes were given the go-ahead including the Tunstall Northern Bypass. See all the Road Block press releases here
http://www.roadblock.org.uk/pressreleases.htm

 

Roadbuilding won’t create ‘sustainable communities’

On 12 April the government also announced that over 80% of the Community Infrastructure Fund (a pot of cash for transport for Prescott’s new “Sustainable Communities” housing development) would go towards yet more roads, with less than 20% going to public transport , cycling or walking. Labour peer, Lord Berkeley has tabled a Parliamentary Question about this unfair split. Road Block said this would lead to more car based sprawl, traffic growth and CO2 emissions increases.
http://www.roadblock.org.uk/press_releases/2006-04-11.htm

 
Motoring costs decline

On 4 May, Roads Minister Stephen Ladyman revealed in a Parliamentary Question that between 1997 and 2005 the real cost of motoring declined by 9 per cent. Meanwhile bus and coach fares increased by 15 per cent and rail fares increased by 5 per cent.

Transport Select Committee savages Highways Agency
 
On 27 July the Transport Select Committee released a scathing report into the Highways Agency which was most critical of the soaring cost of their roads programme.  The report said that "The Highways Agency has lost budgetary control" (para 104) , and that "the cost overruns on these projects could be in excess of £1 billion" (para 107), and concluded that "it appears inevitable that costs will rise" (para 103) .  It predicted that "yet-to-be-completed road projects would be 50 per cent higher than originally estimated" (para 104), and that "such an increase would be an irresponsible and unacceptable waste of public money" (para 104).
See http://www.roadblock.org.uk/pressreleases.htm for the Road Block press release,
and http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1831967,00.html

Road Block v the Roads Minister

When Roads Minister Stephen Ladyman dared question the Road Block coordinator in a media interview about whether the M1 widening would increase traffic and cost over £3 billion he received a stinging reply. It was pointed out to him that the eye watering £3.7 billion cost of the M1 widening came from a Parliamentary Question HE had answered on19 Dec 2005! He also insisted that traffic growth is essential to keep the economy growing. After several groans of despair Road Block firstly pointed him to the wealth of evidence from his own Department showing that roadbuilding creates more traffic (SACTRA report) and that economic growth and traffic growth are not mutually dependent (White Paper and Transport Trends), and then suggested he get reading! Astonishingly Road Block received a reply to the letter, in which he insisted that roadbuilding eases congestion. Read the correspondence here:
http://www.roadblock.org.uk/publications.htm