Skip to main content

M6 should be priority for Government investment, drivers tell FTA

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has been looking at stretches of the UK’s strategic road network that would most benefit from Government investment following the Chancellor’s commitment in his Autumn Statement to fund improvements to congestion hot spots. Philip Hammond said the Government would spend IS$1.6 billion (£1.3 billion) on improving England’s roads, including US$222 million (£220 million) on tackling congestion at pinch points and US$33 million (£27 million) on an expressway connecting Ox
December 20, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The 6983 Freight Transport Association (FTA) has been looking at stretches of the UK’s strategic road network that would most benefit from Government investment following the Chancellor’s commitment in his Autumn Statement to fund improvements to congestion hot spots.
 
Philip Hammond said the Government would spend IS$1.6 billion (£1.3 billion) on improving England’s roads, including US$222 million (£220 million) on tackling congestion at pinch points and US$33 million (£27 million) on an expressway connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.
 
Road delays are a constant issue for FTA members who move goods throughout the UK. It costs around £1 a minute to run a 44-tonne truck so any hold-ups have a huge financial impact on operations.
 
FTA identified the M60 north of Manchester, the M25 to the west of London and the M6 north of Birmingham as three of the most highly congested roads and ran a Twitter poll asking drivers which they thought needed most attention. The M6 narrowly came out on top with 39% of the vote, with the M25 on 37 per cent and the M60 on 24 per cent.
 
Malcolm Bingham, FTA’s head of Road Network Management Policy, said: “Every motorist will have view on where the worst spots are on our strategic network and these figures for our poll show that there is a split opinion. It is therefore vital that we get the next programme of roads spending to address the concerns on congestion.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Traffic signal upgrade for UK’s south-east
    April 25, 2016
    A contract to deliver a new central traffic signal control and management system for the UK’s south east has been placed by Highways England with Simulation Systems (SSL) to meet both the immediate and future requirements of Highways England for England’s motorway and major A-roads. Central to the contract will be Siemens Stratos cloud-hosted, fully integrated traffic control and management solution and hosted-SCOOT, the real time UTC and adaptive traffic control system already used to manage and co-ordinat
  • Report reveals increase in road congestion levels
    November 6, 2013
    Research by the traffic management company TomTom has found that over the past year, congestion levels have become more severe in eleven of the UK's seventeen largest cities, including London, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Brighton, Belfast and Newcastle It states that on average, the overall amount of time that commuters spent stuck in traffic was nine working days. Congestion levels remained static in Glasgow, Bristol and Birmingham. In contrast, congestion levels fell in Nottingham, Leeds, Brad
  • Innovative road app delivers real time roads conditions
    March 3, 2015
    The Alberta Motor Association (AMA), IBI Group and GreenOwl Mobile have joined forces to deliver a big leap forward in keeping drivers in Alberta, Canada, informed of traffic issues. The next generation AMA Road Reporter app allows motorists to share their own reports, adding shared real-time road condition and traffic information to the already useful road condition data available. Available to both Android and Apple device users, the app is free and can be used to receive and share immediate, real-time ro
  • Congestion charging in New York edges a wheel-length closer
    May 16, 2023
    'This is about more than reducing traffic' says city mayor, pledging transit investment