Call for moratorium on major road building

This week I read a report (see here) showing how road building is a huge gamble and poor value for money. This is not a surprise as it is an issue I have raised before (see for example here).

Image: from Green party election material

As the Campaign for Better Transport note: "It's not right to spend around £1 billion a year on road schemes if the Government can’t predict what the impacts will be...The Highways Agency has known about these forecasting problems for a while. Earlier this year it released a report by engineering consultants Atkins which found that the 'forecasting of economic benefits is generally not accurate' and that 'over half of the scheme models have under-predicted traffic volumes on the old route and [two-thirds] under-predicted by more than 25%'."

Here is what I sent to the minister from the Campaign for Better Transport website:"I have just seen a report that confirms what has been obvious for a while - the Highways Agency's forecasts are inaccurate. The failure to update their modeling means that we are getting projects that are not the best for local people or the planet. I ask that there is a moratorium on major road building until more accurate modeling has been carried out."

Please think about going here to also send a message.