Chambers support M40
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THE WEST Midlands Regional Group of Chambers of Commerce is giving its full support to proposals for the completion of the M40 from Birmingham to Oxford.
The proposals are undergoing a lengthy public inquiry and nearly 100 companies from all over the West Midlands have given evidence of the benefits a motorway would bring.
The WMRG represents chambers of commerce from the major towns and districts affected by the M40. It believes that exports from the West Midlands will benefit from the motorway by getting a quicker passage to the ports and to London.
John Rice, assistant secretary of the WMRG, told CM that the present A40 was congested much of the time with heavy goods vehicles. A motorway was a necessity if traffic times were to be improved.
The WMRG will be urging the Department of Transport to proceed with the motorway's construction as soon as possible once the public inquiry has been completed.
The completed M40 is scheduled for completion in 1989, but the WMRG wants to advance this date by two years.
• Work on the second phase of the M42 south of Birmingham will start shortly and will last about 21 months.
Work will start on the Bromsgrove section of the motorway from the A435 to connect with the A441 at Hopwood north of Alvechurch.
The contract is the second of three expected to be let this year. When complete they will extend the M42 around the south of Birmingham from the end of the existing Solihull section of the A34 Monkspath to the A38 trunk road at Lickey End (north of Bromsgrove), connecting the A34, A435, A441 and A38 with radial routes in and out of Birmingham to the national motorway network.