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Traffic zooms along the MG thanks to Toll
Page 7
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TRAFFIC SPEEDS along the M6 through Birmingham increased by 0% following the opening of the M6 Toll motorway last month December).
Research by traffic information specialist His shows that typical speeds between Junctions 4 and 12 were 52mph compared with 40mph during the same period in 2002.
The biggest improvement was during the morning rush hour, when the average speed rose from 17mph to 37mph.
If this pattern is maintained then hauliers will have little incentive to use the 27-mile toll road —industry leaders have already criticised its L10 HGV fee as excessive.
MEL, which operates the new motorway, says an average of 34.600 vehicles used it during the first week of opening but it does not say how many of them were trucks.
Mitchell Pritchard, transport operations manager for Stokebased RG Bassett & Sons, says that since the Toll opened journey times for its trucks travelling to and from the South-East along the M6 have fallen by around 20 minutes.
"We do timed deliveries and it seems that more drivers are staying within their time limit than in the past," he adds. 'Our instruction to drivers is to only use the Toll if they run out of time."
Pritchard reports that many drivers used to return to Stoke from London via the M1 and A50: "Now they are saying it's just as quick to go along the M6." Research conducted by CM showed that operators using the Toll during the morning rush hour saved less than 10 minutes compared with those using the M6 (CM 18 December).
Itis carried out its research during the toll's first full week of operation, from 15 December. It collects traffic speed data from a cross-section of more than 50,000 vehicles, including trucks in highprofile fleets like Eddie Stobart.