Blog ARCHIVE
Un-SMART Motorways
Serious safety concerns have been raised about the roll out of All Lane Running (ALR) and Smart Motorways where the hard shoulder is sacrificed to become a permanent live lane. There were 10 fatalities in 2019 including five fatalities in just 10 months on a 16-mile section of the M1...
Time to cull ‘sacred cow’ road schemes
The new government, with its desire to increase infrastructure spending whilst needing to impress new Conservative voters in the north and midlands, has the opportunity to cull some bloated vanity projects. Boris Johnson has reportedly instructed his Cabinet to cull large 'legacy projects' and told them that everything is on...
£100 billion could be better spent elsewhere
Protesters camped along the route of the proposed HS2 high speed rail link at Harefield claim they were evicted unlawfully yesterday when security guards turned up without a court order ahead of imminent tree felling. It looks like HS2 Ltd are getting jittery, and with good reason. The chorus of...
Why are politicians scared of restricting car use?
Many politicians in the UK are reluctant to restrict car use on often spurious grounds, such as: it would undermine the local economy; increase congestion and pollution, slow down public transport, you can't turn back the clock, and more. They rarely get the positives that less traffic would make an...
Do they understand the urgency?
Many local authorities and the UK Parliament have declared climate emergencies over the past year. Yet what has changed? On the surface, nothing, and the more cynical would suggest that many of the declarations were made to keep protesters quiet, with the councils having little intention of doing much. Indeed a...
A new dawn for transport?
As England’s Economic Heartland (EEH) consultation on its outline regional transport strategy draws to a close, it’s refreshing that before any policies have been written, EEH has asked for input to help shape the draft strategy. This draft will then go out for consultation next year with adoption of the...
Buses on the up?
The recent announcement by the chancellor Sajid Javid of a National Bus Strategy for England is welcome, if long overdue. For too long buses have been an afterthought as politicians have focused on road building and grandiose rail schemes such as HS2 and Crossrail. So could the tide have finally...
Hanging in the balance
Last week, the 6 month examination into the dualling of the A303 through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site came to an end. No doubt to much relief for all concerned. Modern Examinations in Public are pretty staid affairs, with little chance for real cross-examination and scrutiny. Even keeping track of...
What about climate change?
Highways England is consulting on 6 options for a new A27 Arundel Bypass. All routes are potentially highly damaging taking out ancient woodland and most impacting upon the South Downs National Park. Previous proposals have met with a wealth of opposition from national organisations and two legal challenges. So far...
New support organisation
Transport Action Network is a brand new organisation primarily established to support local people and community organisations faced with damaging new road schemes or losing local bus services. It also exists to promote sustainable transport and has been set up with the generous support of the Foundation for Integrated Transport,...
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