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UK roads lag behind EU
Page 7
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THE ROAD USERS Alliance (RUA) has placed the UK motorway network at the bottom of the European league.
According to its most recent statistics, Britain has more cars per motorway mile than any EU-25 nation and is on a similar level to Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary.
RUA director Tim Green says: We have failed to grasp that our prosperity motors on our roads. They carry 92% of our passenger traffic and 88% of our freight, and despite vastly superior rail infrastructure similar figures still prevail in Europe, where only 7% of passengers travel by rail.
"Yet with relatively low car ownership and the worst congestion in Europe we continue to pursue the notion that congestion charging and public transport can resolve our transport problems."
Figures showthat car travel rose by 60bn passenger-km (around 10%) over the last decade, while the size of the major road network has increased by only 2%.
According to the RUA, spending on the roads is also lagging behind, particularly when compared to Eastern Europe, which is steaming ahead with major investment funds bringing their road networks slowly up to scratch. UK road users contributed E415bn to the Treasury in taxes last year, of which 27.5bn was re-invested in roads.
The RUA says that "unless the UK accepts that road investment is an urgent economic necessity, the country will be left standing on the slip road to growth and prosperity".