New figures spell road rage

ures for 1999 reveal traffic levels 1.7% higher than in 1998, about the same as the rise for the previous year (1.5%).

Traffic on motorways increased by 3% between 1998 and 1999.

BRF director Richard Diment said: "The continuing growth in traffic shows just how important it is for Government to make progress with modernising our road system. Improvements to public transport are important but they will not stop traffic increasing while the economy is growing."

Diment continued: "The Government has to deal with a legacy of decades of under-investment in the management, maintenance and improvement of our road system. BRF has told the Government that around £90bn will need to be invested in maintaining existing roads, introducing new technology to manage traffic more effectively, build bypasses and deal with congestion hotspots across the road network over the next decade. That means an increase of about 80% over current spending levels."

Conservative shadow transport minister Bernard Jenkin said: "Unless the Government plans a road system that can cope with traffic growth, our trunk roads and motorways will grind to a halt and our towns and cities will be choked with traffic jams. The Conservatives were spending twice the amount that Labour has invested on essential bypasses and de-bottlenecking the national roads system. Labour's cancellation of more than a hundred road schemes is building up to a crisis in Standstill Britain." by Graham Ridout



The British Road Federation and the Conservative Party have seized on figures showing an increase in traffic volumes and used them to mount an attack on the Government.

Figures from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions show that traffic levels have risen by 1% since the first quarter of 1999, according to provisional estimates for the first quarter of 2000. Revised figures for 1999 reveal traffic levels 1.7% higher than in 1998, about the same as the rise for the previous year (1.5%).

Traffic on motorways increased by 3% between 1998 and 1999.

BRF director Richard Diment said: "The continuing growth in traffic shows just how important it is for Government to make progress with modernising our road system. Improvements to public transport are important but they will not stop traffic increasing while the economy is growing."

Diment continued: "The Government has to deal with a legacy of decades of under-investment in the management, maintenance and improvement of our road system. BRF has told the Government that around £90bn will need to be invested in maintaining existing roads, introducing new technology to manage traffic more effectively, build bypasses and deal with congestion hotspots across the road network over the next decade. That means an increase of about 80% over current spending levels."

Conservative shadow transport minister Bernard Jenkin said: "Unless the Government plans a road system that can cope with traffic growth, our trunk roads and motorways will grind to a halt and our towns and cities will be choked with traffic jams. The Conservatives were spending twice the amount that Labour has invested on essential bypasses and de-bottlenecking the national roads system. Labour's cancellation of more than a hundred road schemes is building up to a crisis in Standstill Britain."