Backlash Feared Over M62 Toll Plan
Discussion
Another snippet from the "Manchester Evening News!"
David Ottewelle writes:
Motorists could be charged to use the M62 across the Pennines if a plan to speed traffic on UK's "worst" congested motorway in accepted.
Charging motorists to use the road and building a new toll lane for drivers to avoid the jams are amongst options being considered for the medium term. Plans are to be submitted in July.
Short term measures may include variation speed limits, reserving lanes for lorries, and American Style traffic lights controlling access from the slip roads.
The plan has been revealed as part of the "Northern Way Initiative" launched by Johnny Treble Jags Prescott to show how Manchester and Leeds can beome the power house of the North and speeding up traffic on M62 is seen as vital to unlocking the potential of this "power house of the North".
Nick Gerrard - Head of Operationsfor the North West Development Agency and a member of the Northern Way's task group said:
"We have flagged up a range of things that need to be looked at, and some are controversial and we are not committed to anything yet.!"
Claire Price - North West AA spokeswoman said:
"This will fill drivers with horror. If thsi happens - there will be a backlash."
A spokesman for the North West Regional Assmeby said "they would not support a toll imposed only on the M62, saying that it would have to be applied nationally before they would vote for it, as in isolation it would do
all for the local economy."
Manchester has a telephone poll on this:
Vote YES to the toll: 0870 110 8051
Vote NO to the toll: 0870 110 8052
Shall tell you the result when it is published!
Meantime - is M62 the most congestested motorway?
And is the solution really TOLLS
David Ottewelle writes:
Motorists could be charged to use the M62 across the Pennines if a plan to speed traffic on UK's "worst" congested motorway in accepted.
Charging motorists to use the road and building a new toll lane for drivers to avoid the jams are amongst options being considered for the medium term. Plans are to be submitted in July.
Short term measures may include variation speed limits, reserving lanes for lorries, and American Style traffic lights controlling access from the slip roads.
The plan has been revealed as part of the "Northern Way Initiative" launched by Johnny Treble Jags Prescott to show how Manchester and Leeds can beome the power house of the North and speeding up traffic on M62 is seen as vital to unlocking the potential of this "power house of the North".
Nick Gerrard - Head of Operationsfor the North West Development Agency and a member of the Northern Way's task group said:
"We have flagged up a range of things that need to be looked at, and some are controversial and we are not committed to anything yet.!"
Claire Price - North West AA spokeswoman said:
"This will fill drivers with horror. If thsi happens - there will be a backlash."
A spokesman for the North West Regional Assmeby said "they would not support a toll imposed only on the M62, saying that it would have to be applied nationally before they would vote for it, as in isolation it would do
all for the local economy." Manchester has a telephone poll on this:
Vote YES to the toll: 0870 110 8051
Vote NO to the toll: 0870 110 8052
Shall tell you the result when it is published!
Meantime - is M62 the most congestested motorway?
And is the solution really TOLLS 
Streetcop said:
Dont buy houses in Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Tintwhistle, Glossop etc, if you don't like traffic noises...... 
Street
I am old enough to remember the good old days before the M62 was built..
, in fact I travelled across it on the day it opened, in those days a journey from Stalybridge to Leeds via Huddersfield seemed to take forever...... No speed cameras though.....
Wacky Racer said:
Dont buy houses in Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Tintwhistle, Glossop etc, if you don't like traffic noises......
Street
I am old enough to remember the good old days before the M62 was built..
No speed cameras though.....
Nice roads...Stalybridge, Mossley?, Greenfield? that way...A635 (isle of skye road)...top scenery
Street
Heebee said:
The M6 toll road is excellent: it saves a lot of time, and it's really well designed. Lovely surface, nice wide lanes, etc.
And it does seem to have taken just enough traffic away from the M6 to ease the congestion on there....
As for the M62 there has been talk of building a new section to bypass the Worsley section (which is now the M60/M61/M62 bit) for many years, but nothing has ever come of it.. Maybe looking at the M6 toll this may be the way to go though..
One way that I've always thought that might ease congestion is to restrict HGVs to the inside two lanes of any roadway with more than two lanes. So in any four lane section you would get two lanes for cars rather than the one you have now...
I travel the M62, quite regularly, to get to Blackburn and the A1 - most times of the day it is busy, but not that unbearable - it's at its worse in the rush hours and at the Motorway intersections.
Not at all happy at paying to use a road we've already paid for in road taxes - OK with a 'Toll lane ' - if they can find anywhere to widen the M62 to accomodate it.
David
Not at all happy at paying to use a road we've already paid for in road taxes - OK with a 'Toll lane ' - if they can find anywhere to widen the M62 to accomodate it.
David
Heebee said:
I was initially really opposed to road tolls: I thought the (M6?) toll road was a terrible idea.
It was a terrible idea. A private company is now making money out of us which would otherwise have been used for road maintenance.
Heebee said:
But then, it's not the only way to get to where you're going: you can still use the old road. As long as we're not forced to pay a toll, I actually don't mind the idea of private companies building excellent roads as an alternative to the congested crappy ones that we have to put up with.
That depends on how you define can. The M6 is overcrowded and continually subject to absurdly low speed restrictions. These are placed for miles around the work sites and remain in force even when there is no work being done. A cynical person might suggest the M6 is kept in this state deliberately, as a means of increasing profits for the M6 Toll. Don't forget the govornment has a strong interest in promoting privatisation, and this is an excellent example of a case where it can be made to appear to work.
Heebee said:
The M6 toll road is excellent: it saves a lot of time, and it's really well designed. Lovely surface, nice wide lanes, etc. At 3 quid, I can afford to pay to have a go on it occasionally. If I couldn't, I'd use the old road, and feel pleased that it was slightly less congested than it used to be.
For selfish reasons I appreciate the M6 Toll as much as anyone. However for the reasons mentioned above I suspect the M6 Toll has had a negative effect on the the congestion levels of the M6 itself, rather than a positive one.
As is so common these days we are finding it difficult to resist taking to the slippery slope.
>> Edited by alexf on Wednesday 29th September 17:47
stepej said:I agree, the way forward has to be to split HGV and other traffic. Its the difference in speed that kills! In essence thats what the M6 toll has done.
The M6 toll road is excellent: it saves a lot of time, and it's really well designed. Lovely surface, nice wide lanes, etc.
And it does seem to have taken just enough traffic away from the M6 to ease the congestion on there....
As for the M62 there has been talk of building a new section to bypass the Worsley section (which is now the M60/M61/M62 bit) for many years, but nothing has ever come of it.. Maybe looking at the M6 toll this may be the way to go though..
One way that I've always thought that might ease congestion is to restrict HGVs to the inside two lanes of any roadway with more than two lanes. So in any four lane section you would get two lanes for cars rather than the one you have now...
What you need is two dual carriageways running in parallel - but the junctions would be a bit of a mess!
Maybe the answer is to impose a mimium speed limit and ban HGV's from overtaking except during off peak hours (overnight). Only trouble with that is they'll create even more of a moving roadblock than they do now at exits.
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