Ever wondered what happened after the Newbury Bypass was built, and to StanworthValleywhere a week-long tree eviction took place during the 1990’s? Well, CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and the Countryside Agency have commissioned research into three big road schemes from the 1990’s (Newbury, M65 and Polegate Bypass in Sussex) to assess their impact on traffic levels, the landscape and subsequent development. The report shows that these case study roads did not relieve congestion, instead driving up traffic levels, and have led to ecological degradation and development.

The Highways Agency forecast for the A34 Newbury Bypass, completed in 1998, was 30,000 to 36,000 vehicles per day by 2010. The actual level measured in 2004 was 43,800. Meanwhile peak-time congestion within the town is back to original levels.  The report also concluded that the government is failing to learn the mistakes of past road schemes and is set to keep repeating the same expensive and devastating mistakes. 

See the Road Block press releases here http://www.roadblock.org.uk/press_releases/2006-07-03.htm

and here http://www.roadblock.org.uk/press_releases/2006-07-03A.htm

This important research will be a crucial tool for those campaigning against roads. Published on 5 July, it will be available to download here:

http://www.cpre.org.uk/publications/index.htm

or here:

http://www.countryside.gov.uk/LAR/Landscape/PP/planning/research.asp