COST OF M-WAY WIDENING 10 August 2007
Your article (Mercury, August
10) omitted to state why the proposed motorway-widening
scheme is perceived as "outrageous" by those of
us campaigning for more sensible approaches to planning.
The cost alone ought to raise a few eyebrows: £50 million
per mile or £800 per inch! The projected cost for the
scheme is £2.521 billion, which could otherwise be used
to fund a first-class public transport system for the region.
By the time the Olympics are under way in London, "Peak
Oil" will be making its effects felt.
Declining fossil-fuel supplies and the trend for ever-growing
transport demand simply isn't being addressed.
Biofuels and all the problems associated with switching agriculture
to non-food production will not be able to meet this demand.
Maybe hard economics will resolve the traffic congestion
issue.
The Government's Climate Bill proposes to place the target
to cut carbon dioxide emissions - 60 per cent from 1990 levels
- by 2050 on to the statute books and to create new powers
to ensure the 2050 target is achieved.
How this can be accomplished (against the backdrop of climate
change) by feeding demand and thereby increasing the number
of road journeys is irrational.
Graham Stocks, Leicestershire Branch of the Campaign
to Protect Rural England.
Source Leicester
Mercury
Visit The
Highways Agency website for additional
infomation on the M1 M69 link road
Also why not
let us have your views on this on our
forum?
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