Frequently Asked Questions

Some of the common questions that we get asked are answered below.

1. Aren't you advocating concreting over the countryside?
2. Shouldn't we be getting people out of their cars?
3. Won't new roads just encourage greenfield development?
4. Don't new roads just fill up with traffic?
5. Won't new roads contribute to global warming?
6. What's your stance on hard shoulder running?
7. What about the M6 Toll?
8. What about Road Pricing?

Aren't you advocating concreting over the countryside?

The amount of land taken up by roads is often exaggerated. It is estimated that overall no more than 1.5% of Britain's land area is covered by roads -- and most of these are just local roads on housing estates.

Maps, even at fairly small scales, are very misleading on this point as, for clarity, they greatly exaggerate the width of roads.

Also, most of the schemes we are advocating are simply the widening or improvement of existing roads, not the construction of entirely new roads through undeveloped countryside. Modern landscaping methods can minimise any visual or noise intrusion from roads.

Providing Britain with a high-class road network would have a minimal effect on the amount of countryside that was built over.

Shouldn't we be getting people out of their cars?

It's very easy to say that we shouldn't build roads, and that people should get the train or the bus instead. But in reality, it's not that simple. Public transport has a vital role to play in reducing congestion, particularly in urban areas where building new roads would be prohibitively expensive and disruptive.

Most public transport services are geared towards allowing people to get into and out of a town centre, and go between major towns. However, a large number of journeys made do not follow these patterns -- for example, a journey from a house in the suburbs to a business park elsewhere in the suburbs. Our modern transport patterns are just too dispersed for public transport to be able to cater for them all.

It's also worth noting that the CO2 emissions per person of an average family car with 2 people in it are broadly similar to going by train; and that a car with 3 or more people in it will usually be the most environmentally friendly method of transport.

Won't new roads just encourage greenfield development?

It is certainly true that some new roads do end up being lined with new housing, retail parks etc. However this is a result of planning policy, not an intrinsic feature of roads. Local authorities should plan new developments where they are most appropriate rather than taking the easy option of just putting them next to bypasses.

We believe that constructing major new roads with grade-separated junctions (underpasses or flyovers) will prevent them being magnets for development as they cannot have property accesses directly on to the road.

However, it must be recognised that new residential and commercial developments are needed in many places and must have access roads of a good standard. Some of the campaigners who make comments like this simply seem to be opposed to all development, full stop.

Britain's population is growing, and it is essential that housing and transport infrastructure should grow to cope.

Don't new roads just fill up with traffic?

When a new road is opened, it will almost always start to fill up with traffic. This is by design, since if there was no traffic wanting to use the route, the road would not have been built.

This traffic does not appear from nowhere; rather, it will have been drawn off other routes, relieving congestion on them. If a town bypass did not fill up with traffic, it would be a complete failure since that would mean that traffic was still clogging up the town centre.

At a first glance, it may seem like a new road has generated extra traffic, but you often need to look further afield to see where the traffic has come from.

Take the M6 Toll as an example. On first sight, it has "generated" extra traffic, since after it opened the number of vehicles using the M6 at each end of the toll road increased by 10%. However, look further away and you find that traffic on the A446 fell by 10%, the A5190 fell by 24%, and the A50 fell by 18%.

Many roads - such as the M50, the M69, the M180 and the A74(M) through the Scottish Borders - fulfil a useful purpose and are never congested in normal circumstances. The M50 was built almost 50 years ago and yet is still not congested to this day; a road will only fill up with traffic if people need to use it.

Won't new roads contribute to global warming?

Open Road believes that we need to be investing in cleaner, more efficient vehicles, alternative fuels that don't produce as much CO2 and alternative methods of propulsion that can use electricity generated from non fossil fuel sources.

Refusing to build roads isn't going to magically reduce traffic; on the contrary, traffic stuck in endless jams causes a lot of needless greenhouse gases to be generated. Restricting mobility for people and goods is also likely to have adverse economic effects that could be worse for the world population than the potential effects of global warming.

What's your stance on Hard Shoulder Running?

Active Traffic Management (ATM) is the name given to the system currently installed on the M42 where vehicles are allowed to drive on the hard shoulder at certain times of day to reduce congestion.

Here at Open Road we do see the potential for hard shoulder running as a short-term measure to reduce congestion while a long-term widening scheme is being prepared. However, we object to the government's current policy of using ATM as a permanent solution for the following reasons:

• As the road becomes reliant on the hard shoulder to handle daily traffic demands, minor accidents or breakdowns will cause significantly more congestion since they will have to be moved to an Emergency Refuse Area rather than the nearest hard shoulder, which will take longer and may require emergency services assistance.
• If a serious accident happens in heavy traffic it will not be easy for emergency services to reach the scene, since all lanes including the hard shoulder will already be full of traffic.
• When major maintenance is required, there will not be an extra lane to use for contraflows or to make space for other works. This will significantly increase the costs and delays associated with future maintenance.
• As traffic increases, an increasing proportion of our national motorway network will be reduced to running at 50 mph with hard shoulder running. This is not acceptable for an essential national network that should be able to quickly transport people and goods around the country.
• Off-peak, congestion will not be reduced. The extra lane of capacity will not be available, therefore it is unlikely that freeflow speeds will return to 70 mph as they do with proper widening.

What about the M6 Toll?

Open Road is opposed to tolled motorways such as the M6 Toll. This form of road tolling is a regressive tax that hurts the poor more than the rich. More importantly, it prevents traffic from using our roads in the most efficient way, since the toll causes large amounts of traffic to divert onto other routes, causing needless congestion on them.

If the choice is between a tolled motorway and no road at all, Open Road will support the road's construction, since it may go at least some way to alleviate congestion. But, we are always mindful that toll roads are wasting road space that could otherwise be used far more efficiently to relieve congestion.

What about Road Pricing?

Open Road is opposed to road pricing as proposed by the government, for several reasons:

• Congestion is already self-regulating; people do not travel on congested roads by choice, but because they are the only reasonable way to get to the destination.
• Because of this, people will simply 'grin and bear it' and pay the charge. If people were easily able to work different hours, they would already be doing so.
• The practicalities of implementing the system are enormous. Government IT projects are not known for being on time and on budget; and enforcing the new system would also be a nightmare.
• Road Pricing would favour wealthy middle class people living in the country with their 4x4's, and discriminate against poorer people living in city centres, since the higher road prices will inevitably apply to city streets. The current petrol tax treats everyone fairly, and inefficient vehicles cost you more in petrol.

Congestion charging works to an extent in London because the public transport facilities there can cater for most journeys. Outside of London though, for many journeys there is simply no viable public transport option.

If you have any further questions that you think should be answered here, please contact us!