Road pricing shelved, while plans to open hard shoulder go ahead
Author: Robin Brown
Published: 04 March 2008
Government plans to open up hard shoulder on certain motorways in order to ease congestion have been announced, alongside a statement that road charging is 'many years away'.
Transport secretary Ruth Kelly announced that trial schemes to open up hard shoulder during peak congestion have been deemed a success and the scheme will be rolled out on the M1, M6, M62, M27, M4 and M5. Motorways which join the M25, such as the M20 and M3 will also be included.
A trial on the M42 near Birmingham opened the hard shoulder as an extra lane and reduced the speed limit to 50mph, reducing average journey times fell by over 25% on the northbound carriageway, fuel consumption by 4% and vehicle emissions by up to 10%.
Emergency refuges every 500m are opened under the system, while drivers are warned of any accidents and the hard shoulder closed to allow emergency vehicle access in the event of an accident.
Car sharing schemes, multi-vehicle lanes and HGC crawler lanes are also being considered by the government in a bid to ease congestion on the UK's busiest motorways.
The government has apparently backed down from plans to introduce national road charging plans after 1.8m people signed a Downing Street petition last year protesting against any such plans, although further funding will be provided for local road pricing schemes.
Motoring organisations welcomed to the move, with AA President Edmund King praising the government's retreat from road pricing.
'We welcome the government's retreat from national road pricing and would support the tolling of extra capacity lanes where they offer a premium service and a choice for motorists.
'We are pleased the Government has listened to our concerns about High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes potentially wasting capacity and has agreed to also make them High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. These lanes should also be free for car-sharers,' said King.
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