Robert Ambler
Member
- Joined
- 12 Feb 2019
- Messages
- 68
I understand there are currently 770 miles (approximately) of major new road schemes at a cost of about £30billion in the UK as a whole (so funded from a mix of sources including the devolved governments and local authorities) which are underway or approved. There is about three times that amount at the planning and funding stage. Most of these are by-passes or sections of new road rather than entire new roads but are nonetheless significant. Then as you say there is the money spent on more routine stuff such as renewals, widening and junction improvements.Could you give some figures?
(And please don't just quote "£27 billion for the Road Investment Strategy 2 : 2020-2025". Much of that is for routine renewals, a bit like Network Rail's periodic review settlement. There are very few 'new roads' apart from the additional Thames Crossing, which is the sort of thing that needs to be compared with 'new railways' like Crossrail and HS2.)
It is of course a confusing situation as the figures published by the UK Government are usually just for the schemes they are responsible for (so Highways England schemes). Likewise for other bodies so you end up trawling through reports from pressure and lobby groups which generally of course give a particular viewpoint.
Bearing in mind the subject of this thread it is ironic perhaps that the region with the least new road schemes in the UK is London
Yes I am aware of the differences. I have also commented elsewhere in another thread about the tiny proportion of people and freight moved by rail - 2% of passenger journeys and 5% of freight according to the ORR.Having just pointed out the difference between various forms of Government spending, you must be aware of the different ways road and rail are financed in this country. I'm sure you're also aware that far more people and freight travel by road than by rail.