 Alliance against road building |
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Alliance against road building |
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PRESS RELEASE – 27th November 2006
PRICE ROADS TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE, NOT BUILD MORE ROADS
Commenting today on the Independent Transport Commission's report "ROAD
CHARGING AND ROAD INVESTMENT" [1]
Road Block said that the Commission had showed a lack of imagination in what
could be done with potential revenues from road pricing. Any money raised, it
argued, should not be ploughed into expensive roadbuilding, but could transform
how we travel to reduce road transport's contribution to climate change, or
into other measures to tackle climate change, rather than keeping us wedded
to the car. Road Block also claimed the Commission may have significantly underestimated
the cost of roadbuilding and the cost of climate change.
Road Block said that it was time to make tackling climate change the central
objective of any road pricing scheme to reflect the urgency the Prime Minister
and Sir Nicholas Stern attach to climate change.
The Commission asked the study authors to look only at what road building could
be done with the money. It was outside the scope of the study to look at what
else could be done with the revenue. The report was funded by, amongst others,
the Rees Jeffrey Road Fund.
Apart from the obvious investment that is needed to develop Britain's public
transport network up to world class standards, there are many smaller schemes
that have enormous cost benefit ratios, reduce congestion and CO2 emissions,
and bring about lasting travel behavioural change. Smarter Choices [2],
such as work place travel plans, cycling and walking schemes, and individualised
marketing offer far better value for money than large infrastructure projects,
and offer other policy area benefits also, such as reducing obesity in children.
There is now a wealth of evidence that these schemes offer far better value
for money than road projects.
The Prime Minster himself has acknowledged that it is not practical or acceptable
to attempt to build more roads: "We also recognise that we cannot simply
build our way out of the problems we face. It would be environmentally irresponsible
– and would not work. So we must make our existing transport networks work
more efficiently and in a more environmentally friendly way" - Prime Minister
Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Foreword to The Future of Transport White Paper (2004)
Road Block believes the Commission could have used outdated estimates for the
price of road construction and noted that the significant cost escalation of
new roads could drive up costs still further. Cost escalation of road schemes
is the subject of a National Audit Office inquiry due to report in Dec 2006.
The latest cost of a mile of new motorway is £29.9 million. Adding an
extra lane to a motorway costs approximately £10 million per mile, a mile
of dual carriageway costs £16.2 million and a single carriageway is £10.6
million per mile (Source: Parliamentary Written Answer, 30 Oct 2006, Hansard
Column 37W, - http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm061030/text/61030w0007.htm#06103073000170
). Building tunnels is vastly more expensive with Road Block noting that the
A3 Hindhead tunnel scheme had recently risen from £107 million at first
approval, to £239m in May 2006, and finally approved in October 2006 at
a cost of £371m.
The cost of carbon is currently a matter of debate with the Department for Transport
using figures from Defra figures [3] whilst the Sir Nicholas
Stern report used higher figures. It is not known which figures the ITC report
authors use as they are not given, although the report admits "we have
used a particular environmental cost for carbon dioxide emissions which some
would argue to be too low".
Rebecca Lush, the Road Block Coordinator said:
"It is time to make tackling climate change the central policy objective
of any road pricing scheme, with decreased congestion an added bonus. There
are many things we could do with revenue raised from road pricing. Ask the public
and they say they want the money put into public transport, not road building.
This report shows a lack of imagination, and no recognition of the urgency of
tackling climate change. Any money raised by road pricing should be invested
in growing a world-class public transport system, and smaller schemes to make
walking and cycling more attractive. Building more roads will keep us wedded
to our cars, and is a huge waste of money."
Notes to Editors
[1] ROAD CHARGING AND ROAD INVESTMENT, policy analysis report,
published by ITC on 27 Nov 2006
http://www.trg.soton.ac.uk/itc/rcri_main.pdf
Investing in Roads: Pricing, Costs and New Capacity - underlying technical research
by Christopher Archer and Professor Stephen Glaister of Imperial College, London
http://www.trg.soton.ac.uk/itc/iir_main.pdf
[2] Making Smarter Choices Work, by Professor Phil Goodwin,
Lyn Sloman and others, published by the Department for Transport, 2004
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_susttravel/documents/page/dft_susttravel_029721.hcsp
Valuing the Small: Counting the Benefits, research report by Professor Phil
Goodwin of Transport Policy, University College London, published October 2004
http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/archive/00001263/01/2004_27.pdf
Less Traffic where People Live: How local transport schemes can help cut traffic,
by Lyn Sloman of Transport for Quality of Life, published July 2003
http://www.roadblock.org.uk/resources/LessTrafficWherePeopleLive.pdf
[3] DEFRA guidance Valuing the social cost of carbon emissions,
originating from the GES working paper 140 Estimating the Social Cost of Carbon
Emissions, (Clarkson & Deyes, January 2002).
Road Block
020 7729 6973 / 07854 693067
www.roadblock.org.uk