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HA warns M6 congestion solution 'a decade away'
Page 18
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Truck operators hoping for relief from the ongoing congestion problems on the M6 will be sorely disappointed. Guy Sheppard reports.
HAULIERS WILL HAVE to wait more than a decade before they can expect any relief from delays on the section of the M6 motorway that runs through Staffordshire and Cheshire.
At two seminars last week, the Highways Agency outlined options for increasing total capacity between Junctions 11A (Cannock) and 19 (Knutsford) to business leaders, local residents and other interested groups.
The two options currently being considered will involve either widening the M6 into four lanes in either direction or building a new dual-carriageway 'expressway' alongside the existing motorway.
Stephen Kelly, the Freight Transport Association's regional head of policy, attended one of the seminars and is concerned that 2017 is the earliest date that any upgrade will he open to traffic. "We have a very complex planning system in this country and past experience suggests that this 10-year period could slip," he explains. "The FTA's attitude is to get on and do it.
"Any delay on that particular corridor eats into drivers' hours." He believes that if the privately built expressway option is chosen, drivers would not have to pay at toll booths to use it.
This is because the road would probably be incorporated into a system of road-user charging that is expected to apply to all motorways within the next decade.
The Highways Agency says comments from the two seminars will help ministers decide which option is the best one to pursue.
Traffic on the M6Tol1 motorway fell for the seventh month in a row in December. Figures show that the average daily number of vehicles was 42.224: that's 7% down on December 2004.