Press Releases

Press Release: Tunnel will fail traffic reduction goals

A local transport campaign group claims that the proposed second Tyne road tunnel will fail in its aim of reducing congestion, based upon evidence from other road building schemes.

The Tyne Crossings Alliance, which has been fighting the tunnel project, says that the Newbury Bypass, which started construction ten years ago this month, has shown an alarming increase in traffic above the projected levels1. This confirms that road building is not and will not be the solution to the region's transport problems.

Alliance spokesperson Paul Winch said,

"The Newbury Bypass was supposed to reduce traffic in and around the Newbury area. Ten years later, the overall traffic levels around Newbury are almost double the forecast. This shows that the bypass has attracted additional traffic, and has failed to do the job of reducing traffic volumes. From the lesson of Newbury it's clear that building roads attracts more cars.

"Now the second Tyne road tunnel is promising to follow the same pattern and would substantially increase the number of journeys taken by private car2. This growth will be multiplied by the increase in the costs of public transport compared with motoring3 and NEXUS proposals to enforce cuts in local public transport provision.

"We need to scrap the second road tunnel project and replace it with a coherent, accessible and affordable public transport solution which will cut traffic, cut pollution and lower the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change."

Notes

1. Newbury Bypass info

In 1995 the Highways Agency (HA) predicted that by 2010 traffic on the new bypass would be in the range of 22,000 to 36,000 vehicles per day.

However, by 2003 it was already at 45,700 in the central section, 42,000 on the northern section and 39,900 on the southern section.

Overall traffic levels on the bypass and through the town rose from 43,900 to 65,000 vehicles a day (almost 50%) between 1997 and 2003 north of the town and from 25,300 to 47,030 (over 80%) south of the town.

Traffic levels through the town fell initially after the opening of the bypass, but are now rising again. On the A339 north of Newbury, traffic levels on the average weekday fell from 43,900 in 1997 to 21,000 in 1999 but then rose 10% to 23,200 by 2003. In the town centre, traffic levels fell from 53,100 in 1997 to 39,100 in 1999, but rose 7% to 42,000 by 2003.

Over the same period national average traffic levels increased by about 5%.

2. From the tunnel inspectors report: "the NTC would substantially increase the number of journeys taken by private car" (para 8.26).

3. In 2003 bus and coach fares in the UK were 34 per cent higher and rail fares 36 per cent higher in real terms than in 1980. Over the same period, the cost of motoring decreased by 9 per cent despite a 7 per cent increase in fuel costs. (Source: Department for Transport Transport Trends 2004)