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FTA: bridge the gap
Page 8
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• The Government should be spending an extra 2135 million a year over the next five years on bridge repairs, as well as providing extra funds for lorry parking and grants to help operators relocate from environmentally sensitive areas, says the Freight Transport Association, in its latest submission to Chancellor Nigel Lawson.
The FTA claims that the Government "has neglected bridge maintenance and we are now faced with a sizeable bill for replacing and strengthening bridges". It warns that while .265 million is being spent each year on bridge repairs, "an extra 2135 million a year is needed in order to clear the backlog of work".
FTA director general Garry Turvey adds: "To put that 2135 million into perspective, the total maintenance bill for all national and local roads exceeds 22,100 million a year. Heavy lorries will this year pay 2310 million in excess tax over and above their allocated road costs. We are asking the Government to give back a bit more of the taxation collected from lorries to help bring our bridges up to scratch."
Repeating its call for higher gross weights, the FTA says: "It is important for British Industry that the maximum weight is raised to 40 tonnes as soon as possible" — but it maintains that "the extra cost to the Exchequer, in terms of bridge strengthening, of going from 38 to 40 tonnes is marginal, when compared with what must be spent if bridges are to cope with current traffic demands. Britain's bridges need strengthening — irrespective of the 40-tonne lorry argument."
Following the recent introduction of the new bridge assessment code, from which the Department of Transport estimates that up to 2700 million will have to be spent over the next 15 years to replace or strengthen sub-standard bridges, the FTA claims that some 2130 million could be shaved from that figure by the use of selective weight restrictions on bridges — but only "where the cost to traffic would be less than the cost of strengthening".
On lorry parking, the FTA slams the lack of service areas, particularly on motorways. It reminds the Chancellor that there are still "no facilities whatsoever for lorry drivers on key motorways such as the M25, M20, M18 and M40."
"The lack of services not only penalises the driver, but increases industry's costs as unproductive time and mileage is incurred in hunting for facilities. And there is an environmental penalty when lorry driv ers leave the motorways and main roads."
The FTA says the Government should "make specific provision in its expenditure plans for capital funding of lorry parking sites on the motorway and primary route network."
In a section on environmental objections the association says that while it "does not contest that there are occasions when an operating centre is incompatible with its surroundings . . . it is logical to extend a relocation grant scheme to those companies who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in environmentally sensitive areas."