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Who needs roads?
Page 20
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anti lorry group
THE THAMES Valley branch of Transport 2000, the transport pressure group, has published an open letter questioning the need for several of the proposed roads in the routes to the ports programme.
The roads in question are the M40 extension from Oxford to Birmingham, the schemes to improve road communications between Swindon and the Ml and Al(M), and routes to the South coast ports from the Midlands. Transport 2000 says the construction of these roads is "quite unnecessary when a more desirable solution could be obtained by the improvement of existing rail links to the ports."
The group, noted for its anti-lorry attitude, says that parallel rail links with spare capacity would be able to take the bulk of the freight traffic, while small by-passes would cope with the remainder.
This suggestion would be far less expensive, quicker to construct, less environmentally damaging and would consume less high grade agricultural land. It adds that the combination of by-passes and improvement of rail infrastructure would also result in energy savings owing to rail's superior energy efficiency.
The Thames Valley Transport 2000 branch particularly questions the need for the M40 extension to Birmingham. It contends that the existing rail route between Oxford and Birmingham can not only cope with far more traffic than present, but also has spare capacity on the section right down to Southampton.
This would fit in well with the overall port route policy of road building says the group.