Philips sets a shining example for M25
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WHEN THE M25 London ringway is complete, only about 64km (40 miles) out of 164km (121 miles) will have lighting unless a proposal to the Department of Transport put by Philips Lighting this week is accepted.
The idea is that Philips should provide lighting over the remaining distance at a cost of around 9 million and let the State repay over 10 years.
However, although the reaction by Junior Transport Minister Peter Bottomley is that the Government would "want to look at this very seriously." Philips would not get any contract just because it thought of the idea.
The M25 is nearly complete now that — on Wednesday this week — the Sevenoaks/Swanley section in Kent has been opened.
Meanwhile, the DTp is studying whether more motorway lighting is needed in the interests of safety.
In the case of the extra lighting for the M25, the annual bill for electricity would be about 1200,000 a year.
But Peter Bruinvels, Conservative MP for Leicester East, claims that the cost of a single night-time fatal crash on a motorway is 1205,000.
The Road Haulage Association says: "Experience with the M25 suggests that an early response to the unexpected is vital" For the Freight Transport Association, planning manager Don McIntyre has told the 1)Tp: "Philips' scheme seems entirely consistent with the Government's current philosophy on the funding of highways projects."