‘Charging for roadworks should apply to all,’ says RHA
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
5:07 PM
‘Charging for roadworks should apply to all,’ says RHA
The underlying logic of the Department for Transport’s new consultation on charging utilities for peak period road works should be applied also to publicly-funded road maintenance.
“Budgets are being cut at the Highways Agency and at local councils,” said RHA Director of Policy Jack Semple. “It will be increasingly tempting for these organisations to minimise direct charges from maintenance contractors by ignoring the cost of traffic disruption.
“That temptation should be resisted. We should require roads authorities to take account of the broader economic costs of congestion and diversions resulting from work for which they are responsible - and the DfT is well placed to take a lead.”
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Mayor of London Ken Livingstone predicted this week that Gordon Brown will push ahead with a road pricing scheme as prime minister.
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The vast majority of motorists say the government cannot be trusted to deliver a fair road pricing system, a poll suggests.
The shadow transport Chris Grayling argues the government is out of touch over the "pie in the sky" national road pricing scheme. He argues the 1.8 million people who signed an anti-road pricing petition were right to oppose an unrealistic scheme that should not be forced on local authorities.
