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11A must be more proadivel
Page 12
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The Highways Agency is not doing enough to tackle increasing congestion on the roads says a government report. Guy Sheppard reports.
THE HIGHWAYS AGENCY is too timid in its efforts to reduce congestion on England's motorways and trunk roads,according to a damning report by the government spending watchdogs. The National Audit Office (NAO) says the agency lags behind its overseas counterparts in adopting new technology and has failed to use it on the most congested sections of motorway. The agency has been responsible for reducing congestion since 2000 β average traffic speeds are now 4mph slower than they were in 1995.
The report criticises the agency for failing to allow traffic on the hard shoulder, saying there have been no insurmountable obstacles when this has been done abroad.
Use of the hard shoulder is due to start on the M42 in the West Midlands in two years' time although vehicle recovery operators warn it could lead to pile-ups when removing broken down trucks (CM14 October).
The NAO also accuses the agency of being slow to introduce other congestion busting measures including variable speed limits, dedicated lanes for certain types of vehicles and reversing the direction of traffic in one or more lanes during the rush hour.
It points out that drivers often want information about hold-ups before they join motorways but only a few sections of trunk roads have the necessary message signs.
NAO boss Sir John Bourn says the agency needs to adopt a "less risk averse approach" by carrying out more trials of new measures and implementing them more widely if they prove successful.
Archie Robertson, Chief Executive of the HighwaysAgency, says the report contains some valuable recommendations. "We are already addressing some of the issues identified but fully accept that we have more work to do."
Geoff Dossetter of the Freight Transport Association says that while the NAO proposals are welcome, expansion of the road network β particularly main trade routes such as the M1. M25, M6, M4 and M60βis the only long term solution to congestion.
Department for Transport statistics show that between 1995 and 2002 traffic on major roads grew by 14% with HGV traffic growing by 11%.