3 An effective programme
Route-based
strategies
28. In Action for roads, the
DfT announced that it would develop a programme of route-based
road strategies. The Minister explained the reasoning:
…one must look at the whole
road as a route in order to make sure that money spent improving
a section, by dualling it or—dare I say—putting a
tunnel past Stonehenge, or a dual carriageway through the Blackdown
hills, or wherever, is not just pushing the problem further along.
The route-based strategies are aimed at doing that.
29. Business organisations welcomed
this new programme of investment.[64]
Sustainable transport and conservation groups opposed it, citing
the impact on the environment of new road building and arguing
that new capacity would create more congestion through induced
demand.[65] This concern
about induced demand was questioned by the CILT:
The fact that more people are going
to travel doesn't mean that you shouldn't provide the capacity
for them. We don't say, "Oh, isn't it terrible that Marks
& Spencer have opened a new shop? That will encourage people
to shop more." There is an economic benefit to some of these
things.[66]
30. Several witnesses asked for the
route-based strategies to incorporate plans for railway improvements
for passengers and freight, as well as options for local transport
infrastructure.[67] Oxfordshire
County Council told us:
If you take a step back and look
at the strategic context, you cannot think about how to address
some of the challenges with the strategic road network without
putting them in the context of the transport system as a whole…
That is where the idea of having a road investment strategy, linking
it very much more not just with investment in strategic rail schemes
but also with local transport investment, is absolutely fundamental.[68]
31. Oxera expressed a similar view about
integrating rail and road decisions, emphasising the importance
of a long-term perspective on strategic transport planning:
The proposed changes give the opportunity
for a co-ordinated rail and road investment strategy that could
look 25 years into the future. What are the demands going to be
on the road network, on the rail network and on parallel corridors,
for example? ... There is a real opportunity to change how we
plan between rail and road and to make sure that we are taking
investment decisions… on a consistent basis across the two
networks.[69]
32. Professor Stephen Glaister, of the
RAC Foundation, also saw the benefit of integrating rail and road
along what he termed a 'corridor of need', while emphasising that
this was not part of the current proposals:
I agree that it is a great opportunity,
but I am not sure that the Government's current proposals are
going to take it up. I do not think there is any forum in which
anybody is going to say, "Here is a corridor of need. To
what extent will we meet that by road of by rail?" That is
not on the table, and it should be.[70]
33. Badly maintained roads also impact
on a route's capacity. We received many complaints about the state
of the SRN and its feeder roads.[71]
The EEF told us that its members had highlighted the backlog in
the road maintenance programme and the consequent deterioration
in the quality of the road network as issues of major concern.[72]Ch2m
Hill, a transport consultancy, said that resurfacing is necessary
on the SRN to reduce the number of vehicles that are damaged by
potholes, which cause breakdowns and reduce vehicle efficiency.[73]
34. During our visit to North America,
we discussed trials of route maintenance and investment strategies
during our meetings with the staff of the US Senate Committee
on Commerce, Science and Transportation and then during our meetings
with the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) and state transport
officials in Richmond, Virginia. Virginia was one of the states
trialling a new way of devising improvements to congested routes.
This involved the selection of a congested route and the implementation
of a co-ordinated package of transport measures, identified as
both suitable and politically acceptable, to address congestion.
35. Virginia selected the Interstate
95 road, which travels south from Washington DC, for its route
investment strategy trial. It developed a package of measures,
working with the FHWA and local stakeholders, which included:
· expanding
the collection of real time traffic flow data and making it available
publicly through road signs, web data and apps
· improving
the speed at which accidents and other incidents can be resolved
by locating highway controllers in the same building as the emergency
services
· providing
information to travellers about routes by alternative modes of
travel during periods of congestion
· promoting
ride sharing for car users, especially commuters
· encouraging
commuters to change their time of travel
· promoting
flexible working as a policy for employers
· prioritising
buses, coaches and ride sharing on sections of road heavily used
by commuters, through building high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes
· expanding
park and ride schemes
· introducing
managed motorways with hard shoulder running on selected sections
of route
36. The Virginia scheme involved an
integrated programme of measures. It was designed to make travellers
aware of alternative means of transport, to deal quickly with
accidents and other obstructions to traffic flow and to reduce
the congestion caused by commuters using the busiest sections
of strategic road during the peak period. It was a good example
how a strategic road, public transport and local investment strategy
might be devised and implemented along a 'corridor of need'.
37. We note that the DfT has implemented
some of the measures being trialled in Virginia—for example,
managed motorways on stretches of the M1, M4, M5, M6, M42 and
M62. Many local authorities are running park and ride schemes
outside major towns and cities to reduce the level of traffic
demand on and around the SRN in urban areas. Transport for London
is one authority looking at how out-of-hours deliveries could
be encouraged and the extent to which this could reduce congestion.[74]
Many witnesses asked for such measures to be implemented as part
of a comprehensive and integrated regional programme with the
SRN, rather than as individual initiatives in specific locations.[75]
38. The DfT should commission integrated
passenger and freight plans for strategic transport routes or
regions, rather than looking at one mode of transport in isolation.
Such integrated plans, which should be developed in consultation
with local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and community
and road user groups, must take into account how different options
for the use of infrastructure and technology will impact on transport
movements and on economic development. The DfT must then identify
projects—including maintenance schemes—within the
chosen plan for implementation within the five-year funding cycle.
Every project should be subject to a post-implementation review
to assess the effectiveness of the investment. We recommend that
this process be set out in the forthcoming Roads Investment Strategy.
64 Q 74 [Ms Dee and Mr Radley], SRN 43, SRN 55 Back
65
Q 105 [Mr Joseph], Q 134 [Mr Spiers], SRN 29, SRN 44 Back
66
Q 158 [Mr Coates] Back
67
Q 144 [Mr Coates], SRN 2, SRN 3, SRN 4, SRN 14, SRN 35, SRN 47,
SRN 48 Back
68
Q 104 [Mr Tugwell] Back
69
Q 175 [Mr Meaney] Back
70
Q 175 [Professor Glaister] Back
71
SRN 5, SRN 7, SRN 18, SRN 21, SRN 28, SRN 29, SRN 45, SRN 51,
SRN 52, SRN 61 Back
72
Q 68 [Mr Radley], SRN 43 Back
73
SRN 36 Back
74
SRN 50 Back
75
SRN 7, SRN 14, SRN 28, SRN 30, SRN 33, SRN 35, SRN 36, SRN 38,
SRN 39, SRN 44, SRN 47, Back
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