flOOm roads plea
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
URGENT call for a £100m estment scheme to improve principal roads around Birigham and the West Midcis over the next 10 years has in made by the Confedera1 of British Industry's West dlands Region, the Road Jlage Association and British , working party of the three ups has come up with a fivent plan to regenerate the ren's economy which has sufxi in recent years.
addition to this, recomndations have been made to end the motorways and trunk d network, particularly the 0, M42 and the M1A1 link.
;ritish Rail is calling for a :her £100m to be spent imving commuter railway lines Inter-City rail services in the st Midlands.
he requests for extending the torway network are not new, 3 Ward, RHA Midlands district nager told CM. The Governnt had agreed with the plans irs ago, he said, and now that vernment action at last seems :ly the cost has risen dramailly.
'We really do need the cornton of the strategic network the West Midlands," he said. 3 M5/M6 link north of Birigham carries three times the aunt of heavy vehicles it was ginally designed for.
kn improvement of the link, ending it towards Nottingm, would allow traffic to flow :re easily.
he M40 link to the M42 would 3ed up the journey time from mingham to London greatly. rhe present road from South Birmingham to Oxford, where the motorway begins, winds through villages and narrow roads, he said. A motorway would also help the car transporters at Leyland's plant at Longbridge, south of Birmingham, travelling to its other plant at Cowley in Oxfordshire.
The A1/M1 link has also been given approval by the Government. "Traffic coming down from the North of England often uses the M6. When it tries to get across to Felixstowe or Harwich it often gets lost," he said. The new link will save time and allow vehicles to travel from the Mid lands to the East Coast and back within the one day, he said.
A spokesman for the West Midlands Region of the CBI told CM that the industry within the area had suffered great hardship over the past few years. The industry should be helped on to its feet, he said. Its close position to the South-east of England, one of the most prosperous parts of the country was very valuable.
John Williams, assistant county surveyor for the West Midlands County Council, said that the council was very happy with the proposed road improvement schemes.