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No Mersey hike
Page 19
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PLANS TO INCREASE the Mersey Tunnel tolls to pay for safety improvements to the Queensway tunnel have been shelved after the Department for Transport agreed to fund the scheme through loans.
Transport authority Merseytravel had been expected to increase the tolls by 10p to £1.30 for cars and by 40p to £5.20 for trucks to finance the work. Instead it will borrow the £2.4m needed for the project with the prospect of further loans to come.
This follows a warning from transport associations including the Freight Transport Association that operators would be unfairly penalised if the increased toll rates continued once construction costs had been met.
Councillor Mark Dowd says this is excellent news as work on improvements can now begin soon: "The overall process would have taken up to two years which shows the need for the Tunnels Bill, which is now progressing through Parliament.
"It will allow us to raise tolls in line with inflation without the need for a public inquiry and the subsequent delays this causes," he concludes.