Well of course CPRE a somewhat anti road group so they are not biased in any way are they?
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Whilst its true that the people doing research and reports tend to be from an anti perspective if that's the right word the absence of any counter evidence from the Pro lobby it perhaps most telling - they don't seem to be able to come up with any counter evidence full stop.
The fact that new Road Scheme's induce demand would suggest that there huge supressed demand from the countries totally inadequate road infrastructure.
Is this predict and provide? I think there's stacks of untapped suppressed rail demand so just build new rail lines look what happened when the Borders Line/Ebbw Vale reopened and more people than predicted used it........
Now I fully accept there certainly isn't going to be any mass road building program like the sixties and seventies but that doesn't mean that there should not be some new roads and improvements to existing roads going forward.
But what is the criteria that decides? We currently have had since the Torys got back in every backswood Tory MP in the country promoting their local scheme(s) as "vital" to their local area and "unique circumstances mean its a national priority" theirs now so many of them approved or under active consideration it very much looks like its a national programme without the label. In a 40 mile radius of Newtown we have a bypass around Newtown under construction , the local Tory's are now lobbying hard for two bypasses that straddle the border one on the A483 Pant/Llanymynech and the other on the A458 @ Buttington. In Shrewsbury a "north west relief road" is being lobbied hard for despite there being bypass built in the early 90's which "replaced" the 1930's bypass....and there is a multi MP campaign to dual the entire A5 between Shrewsbury and Ruabon.
Now for Anti Road people like yourself there are potentially two new issues to contend with. Firstly Electric Cars and Hybrids are going to arrive in a big way in the next few years and that going mute the argument about localised pollution caused by Road Vehicles. Secondly well it seems to depend on which manufacturer and which so called expert you talk to as to how quickly fully Autonomous Vehicles will arrive, but lets take a conservative view and say its within the next 15 years even though some are still saying 2020. So in the context of this thread do we spend x hundred million to open a line to Town X which itself even if approved tomorrow will take quite a few years to build, or perhaps instead do we look at improving the roads to at least the nearest railhead from Town X that can be used by non driverless vehicles and eventually driverless vehicles? I would vote for the latter in all probability.
Electric Cars - no infrastructure to support recharging yet and also the range issue. None of the current electric cars can guarantee 100 miles between charges due to variable road conditions. Mr Petrolhead screeches to a halt a a filling station an in a couple of minutes hes off again with a full tank. Are people really going to undertake long distance journeys by electric car with the hassle of recharging? The prized convenience of your own vehicle would appear to undermined. This could be good news for long distance
rail travel demand and railfreight.
Obviously we will anticipate the technology getting better as an answer but it isn't there yet not by a long shot.Electric Cars cant solve congestion they will sit bumper to bumper the same as petrol vehicles do.
Autonomous Vehicles - the high tech industry in search of funding/future profit follow the $ and £ behind this- the technology is massively way off yet even further than Electric. Just look at the Uber self driving scandal in Arizona. Secret E mails to the Governor , a pedestrian killed by a self driving car.
Of course you can have SMART cars that can inform you of congestion ahead and alternative routes but when there's no way round what does it do flash up "Stay AT HOME TOO CONGESTED" .........and of course the other conundrum heres all these Self driving cars being safe and cautious and respecting each other what happens when Mr Petrolhead who wont give up on self controlled driving appears weaving in and out of them. Do they all STOP because its dangerous?