M6 toll road faces ‘significant challenges’ in coming years
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By Chris Tindall CONCERNS OVER the M6 toll road operator’s continued losses could be repeated with other toll roads and crossings, according to a campaign group.
Last week CM revealed that Midland Expressway (MEL) reported a pre-tax loss of £49m and questions have been raised about whether the government should step in. However, MEL’s parent company, Macquarie Motorways Group (MMG), is not demanding repayment of its £584m loan.
MEL’s inancial report blames economic conditions for falling usage, but it admits that it faces “signiicant challenges” over the next couple of years as the govern
ment’s hard shoulder running scheme is introduced onto sections of the M6 to relieve congestion.
Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, says: “The results suggest that building new toll roads is a blind alley, it’s simply not going to work.” He adds: “I am concerned that this might be repeated with the Mersey Gateway Bridge and, unless we are really careful, there will be the same problems with that. David Cameron seems to imply the government is about to sign that off. The freight industry would be unwise to look to toll roads as a solution for dealing with road congestion.” Road Haulage Association policy director Jack Semple adds: “The problem is the M6 toll road can’t attract enough trafic and at the same time there’s congestion on the other road. We don’t want to be prescriptive but, at some stage, the government has to step in to ind a way of making use of the infrastructure. We are not critical of MEL but it can’t be right for the country to have that infrastructure resource and not use it.” MEL chief executive Tom Fanning says the toll road’s owner has no intention of selling and there have been no discussions with the government.
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