‘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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