What a way to run the A13!
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CHAOTIC conditions exist on some major Essex roads at the best of times, and the Al 3 route linking the Essex approach to the Dartford tunnel is no exception.
It therefore seems amazing that protests over lack of consultation by the Department of Transport have to come from the Dartford Tunnel Authority.
It seems that Government officials were to check on traffic using the tunnel, but apparently they had not been consulted on the survey and methods the officials intended to use. Presumably these checks would cause untold delays on the Al 3 route.
Ordered by Transport Minister Norman Fowler, the survey is something upon which the tunnel authorities wish to cooperate fully, but this is hardly possible unless prior notice or consultation takes place with them.
What if they were carrying out a programme of planned maintenance during the operative dates? The mind boggles. I believe that the tunnel authorities agreed to write to the Minister offering cooperation, providing there was -consultation over dates and methods of the survey.
As one who is frequently badly delayed on the A13, I cannot help asking what the Ministry of Transport officials are up to? What a way to run a road system!
Co-operation is the basic essential in all these matters. It makes one seriously doubt what is going on at times, and what sort of information results from surveys apparently conducted in such a manner as to yield unnatural conditions?
NIGEL BREEZE Southend, Essex