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West Midlands looks at anti-jam road pricing
Page 13
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THE WEST MIDLANDS could become the first region in the country to introduce road pricing as a way of tackling congestion.
Last week (7 October) leaders of the conurbation's seven councils agreed to ask for government funding to investigate the idea.
They say congestion in the region is already costing the local economy i2,5bn a year and traffic volumes are forecast to rise by 15% in the decade to 2011.
The councils has ruled out a London-style congestion charge, opting instead for road pricing, which will involve using far more sophisticated technology.
Mike Farmer, regional director of the Road Haulage Association says: "We can't really object to a feasibility study being done "Our only concern is that with a number of different regions doing a number of different studies we will end up with a patchwork of results.Any demand managemen scheme needs to be pan-UK."
If the study is approved, funding for it will come from the government's £18m transport innovation fund for exploring hold schemes to tackle congestion.
• The RHA is supporting business leaders in their call to resin.red plans for improved road links between the M54 north of Wolverhampton and Junction 4o1 the MS at Brornsgrove, creating an orbital road round Birmingham and the Black Country:This idea has twice been rejected by the government.