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Severn tolls set to double by '95
Page 16
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• Charges for HGVs using the Severn Bridge will more than double within five years.
The 22 fee will increase to 23.50 within two years and then go up again to a minimum of 24.20 from 1995, says Transport Secretary Cecil Parkinson.
This follows the decision to hand over the link to the Anglo-French consortium of John Laing and GTM Entrepose, which will operate the existing bridge while it designs, builds and then operates a 2270m second Severn crossing which is due to open to traffic in 1995.
The plan is to build a 5km dual three-lane motorway across the Severn, incorporating a cable staid bridge with a 456m span. Wind shielding will be incorporated to protect vehicles, particularly heavy high sided lorries.
Parkinson has told MPs that the Laing GTM proposal was the best overall value for money of the private tenders submitted. "It will be the most effective means of securing completion of the second crossing at the earliest practicable date," he claims.
The consortium's plan is for a concession to collect tolls on the crossings for up to 30 years, depending on traffic levels; on current forecasts tolls would be needed for only about 21 years.
The FTA's south-western director Frank Cook, while welcoming the construction of a second Severn crossing, says he is "not happy with the tolls, both in principle and in the way the sums have been done".
The Laing GTM proposal involves one-way tolling west bound for both bridges.
Parkinson has also launched a major extension of his plans for private toll roads.
Six new schemes for operators to build and run bridge, tunnel and road links at key traffic points include a lower Thames crossing east of the M25; fast road links between Chelmsford and the M25, and between Rayleigh and the M25; an Al-M1 link at Scratchwood, North London; a toll bridge across the River Tamar; and a toll road over or under the Mersey to serve Liverpool's expanding regional airport.
These schemes are in addition to private plans already on the move for a new M25 bridge over the Thames at Dartford; for a northern relief road from Birmingham and a toll motorway running parallel to the M6 between the Midlands and Manchester.
The Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association have criticised the private roads plans, which the RHA describes as "another transport volte face". RHA director-general Bryan Colley rejects the schemes as "decisions based on political expediency rather than sound logistic planning".
The VIA opposes Parkinson's proposals on the basis that "improvement for the nation's strategic road network is too important to be left to the vagaries of market forces", which would present the transport industry with a further bill for several million pounds.