Wetherby short cut ff the map official
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VERNMENT inspector has recommended that the heavy s vehicle ban on the A58 Leeds-Wetherby road should stay. e decision was announced in a report published as a result he evidence given at a public inquiry in March. The ban, ich was introduced experimentally in February. 1978, proits vehicles over five tons unladen weight from using the A58 rt-cut from the top of the MI at Leeds to join the Al at therby.
decision on the ban was ed by the approach of the of the 18-month maximum I period. Both the Road lage Association and the ight Transport Association ght the weight ban, nting out that it merely hed the displaced lorries o the A64 York Road from ds to get to the Al.
ut despite the pro-road y opposition the Govern t inspector has said heavy es should be banned from A58 permanently, even taking into account the extra cost to hauliers in time and diesel (about £1.4m a year) and the heavier traffic on the A64.
Both the RHA and the FTA expressed dismay about the inspector's recommendation. An RHA spokesman said he was "disappointed but not surprised" in view of the antilorry opposition at the inquiry. He re-iterated the RHA's original point that the ban merely pushes the problem on to the York Road and does not solve anything. Traffic flow figures show that 80 per cent of the displaced lorries now use the A64 York road.
The FTA said the decision is against the weight of evidence at the inquiry. It particularly feels that the extra cost of the diesel used by hauliers taking the long M62-A1 route is enough to make the ban undesirable.
There is one consolation for the trade associations in another recommendation made by the inspector. He said in the report that another major road is needed to take traffic between the Al and the M1 — and urgently.
The inspector's report is to be considered by West Yorkshire County Council later this month when a final decision will be made, but it is widely expected that the ban will stay.