TOMORROW?
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Transport policy is at a crucial junction. Take any turning and long tailbacks on congested roads threaten to strangle UK business. But what has the Government done so far—and will it tackle the problem in next month's White Paper?
It's 11:00hrs and it's an all-too-familiar tale. Owner-driver Alf Buckman is already two hours late for an appointment in Wooton Under Edge in Gloucestershire, via Purfleet, from his home in Dover. He left at 15:30Iu-s. "The M25 is the world's biggest car park," he says, as he crawls around the motorway's south side with the late commuters. There has been an accident on the anti-clockwise carriageway between Junctions 15 and 16. "The rubberneckers have got to stop and have a gawp. It goes from bad to worse."
Congestion isn't new: the Government forecast 10 years ago that it would become a problem. But it underestimated the full extent of traffic growth.
The latest forecasts by the Department of Transport predict a rise of 38% from 1996 to 2016 and a rise of 60% by 2031. Average journey times are expected to double on urban motorways by 2031.
The Government clearly recognises the need for action. Announcing these figures last October, Transport Minister Gavin Strang said: "Doing nothing is not an option." But whether the action taken so far is enough to make any difference is questionable. Last year a new law was introduced allowing local authorities the option to set themselves targets to reduce traffic.
Later this summer another law will oblige the Government to set national targets for traffic reduction. That piece of legislation, the Road Traffic Reduction Bill, only gained government support after the proposed fixed target reduction of 10% of 1990 traffic levels by 2010 was abandoned.
The private members' bill was proposed by Plaid Cymru MP Cynog Dafis and supported by Friends of the Earth. Critics of the bill say that dropping fixed targets renders it meaningless, but on the grounds that something is better than nothing, FoE is happy that it has at least won the principle of setting targets for traffic reduction.
Congestion is estimated to cost the economy £20bn in wasted time every year. The dif ficult decision for the Government is how to reconcile the booming car industry, used as a barometer for the general health of the economy, with the growing environmental, and latterly the political, lobby groups which are calling for reduced car use.
The Department of Transport will announce how it is to tackle congestion in the transport policy White Paper next month. Whether the measures are real or cosmetic remains to be seen, but according to the road transport industry, there are plenty of steps that could be taken immediately to help reduce congestion.
Safeway logistics director Lawrence Christensen has plenty of ideas. No wonder, as he says congestion adds significant costs to his 800-vehicle distribution operation, especially at distribution centres at Warrington and Aylesford.
"There are significant on-costs there not just in terms of lorries standing with their engines running but there's a lot of wasted time. We're constantly adjusting schedules, particularly for goods moving on the M25 and M6." Seasonality and holiday traffic, he points out, can cause congestion. "In the South-West in the winter, we don't manage too badly, but in the summer it's horrendous."
As president of the Freight Transport Association, Christensen has been calling for short-term congestion-busting measures such as dedicated freight lanes, tax breaks for cleaner engines and fuels combined with a rise in vehicle weights to 44 tonnes which would remove 9,000 HGVs and 480 million lorry miles every year.
Priority to freight for track access would stimulate rail freight and a Government review of local authority policy on night delivery curfews would help some operators schedule more deliveries at night.
Sitting in jams on the M25 gives Alf Buckman plenty of ideas, but he does not agree with night deliveries: "You just couldn't do it. You can't deliver to building sites when you've got to go through residential areas," he says. He advocates national computerisation of loads to reduce empty running and a thinktank from the industry to put its proposals to Government.
"There's no single answer to the problem of congestion. It isn't even an issue that affects all parts of the country—it's a localised problem which needs a local solution," says Road Haulage Association director-general Steven Norris.
"Someone is going to have to make the decision not to travel," he says. Measures that will influence that decision include road pricing, altering the working day, teleworking, improving cycling and walking facilities and improved public transport.
Environment Secretary John Prescott is said to have recently bid for an extra £3bn in the next spending round for investment in public transport. If he doesn't get it, Norris is unequivocal about the value of the past few years of the great transport debate culminating in next month's White Paper.
"It will have been an elegant exercise in rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic of Government policy."
ra by Nicky Clarke What is congestion?
The Highways Agency, which is responsible for motorways and truck roads, monitors congestion in three ways.
• By comparing actual traffic flows with the theoretical capacity of the road. If the flow exceeds capacity, congestion occurs.
• By analysing data supplied by TrafficMaster. Its equipment on the motorway network and some trunk roads detects traffic travelling below 30mph. These figures are due for publication in the agency's annual report in August.
• By analysing data from traffic detector loops mounted in the carriageway of some motorways with very heavy traffic, such as the M25, MG and the M62.
The agency admits there are many assumptions involved in the way TrafficMaster compiles its figures and new methods for detecting congestion are under development. Also based on speed calculation, these include automatic number plate recognition and vehiclemounted systems that convey travelling speed.