RE: Tolls planned for A14
Thursday 19th July 2012
A 20-mile section of the A14 in Cambridgeshire could be subject to road tolls under upgrade plans for the A14 corridor from Felixstowe to the M6. Providing an agreement is made for a funding scheme, work could begin as soon as 2018.
A14. Admittedly it's often busier than thisBut although there are plans for new toll-free roads along the route, the intention to toll a section of existing road is a distinct about turn in government policy, especially after the coalition's pledge to 'end the war on the motorist' and a promise not to introduce charging on existing parts of the UK's road network.
Tolls planned for A14
They said they'd never charge for existing roads, but that's just what's in the pipeline for the A14
The widened section of the road is part of a wider scheme for the arterial route that includes a bypass around Huntingdon and new, untolled roads running parallel to the A14 and intended for local traffic.
A14. Admittedly it's often busier than this
The counter-argument to this is that the new section would be 'enhanced' with wider or entirely new carriageway, and will be complemented by new local routes, but it will no doubt still stick in the craw of many (though paying for roads is probably better than cutting a 70mph limit to 40mph).
It's still unclear exactly how the road would be tolled, but a DfT spokesman told the BBC "study work has confirmed that funding for these can be generated in part through tolling a length of the enhanced A14, featuring around 20 miles of new or widened road.
"However, more work will be taken to determine the best tolling solution, including what length the tolled section should be, how users would pay and what the tariff should be."
Discussion
So long as it offers us some benefits i.e. stopping lorries creating roadblocks whilst they TRY to overtake each other and a full national speed limit then this should be ok.
However if you take the example of the M6 toll it started at £1 for a car and is now £5+... so there needs to be guarantees about the pricing
However if you take the example of the M6 toll it started at £1 for a car and is now £5+... so there needs to be guarantees about the pricing
i guess tolling doesn't have to be bad per se, but there should definitely be some sort of cap on the amount.
I must admit though, I cannot see what this has got to do with a 'war on the motorists'...as i see it, if you regularly travel on that godforsaken piece of road, the idea of being able to pay a little to avoid congestion isn't that bad!
I must admit though, I cannot see what this has got to do with a 'war on the motorists'...as i see it, if you regularly travel on that godforsaken piece of road, the idea of being able to pay a little to avoid congestion isn't that bad!
autonut said:
So long as it offers us some benefits i.e. stopping lorries creating roadblocks whilst they TRY to overtake each other and a full national speed limit then this should be ok.
However if you take the example of the M6 toll it started at £1 for a car and is now £5+... so there needs to be guarantees about the pricing
Any government's guarantees, guarantee nothing.However if you take the example of the M6 toll it started at £1 for a car and is now £5+... so there needs to be guarantees about the pricing
il sole said:
i guess tolling doesn't have to be bad per se, but there should definitely be some sort of cap on the amount.
I must admit though, I cannot see what this has got to do with a 'war on the motorists'...as i see it, if you regularly travel on that godforsaken piece of road, the idea of being able to pay a little to avoid congestion isn't that bad!
there is already enough direct taxation based on road use. The network should be improved to handle demand, without recourse to tolls.I must admit though, I cannot see what this has got to do with a 'war on the motorists'...as i see it, if you regularly travel on that godforsaken piece of road, the idea of being able to pay a little to avoid congestion isn't that bad!
The A14 should have been 3 lanes in part (easy with the benefit of hindsight I appreciate)
OllieC said:
The A14 should have been 3 lanes in part (easy with the benefit of hindsight I appreciate)
It's not just hindsight, really. It wouldn't have taken a genius to spot the need for a motorway-standard trunk route in the east of England 20 or even 30 years ago.Unfortunately the Nimbyism that's endemic in the UK, combined with the refusal of politicians to look beyond one term of office and the fashion for anti-road protests in the 80s and 90s put paid to anything other than piecemeal infrastructure development.
Now everybody's trying to pick up the pieces and the motorist will have to foot the bloody bill for the roads, while we're all paying for the lack of foresight with extra congestion and an economy throttled by a crumbling, inadequate road and rail network.
'Proper planning prevents p***-poor performance' is a mantra the UK would have done well to pay at least lip service to.
Not that I feel in any way strongly about this issue, you understand...
Toll Roads? worked well for the M6 didn't it. You can take the piss so much then it backfires, Tolls for a car on the M6 are over a fiver now and still rising to try and compensate for the lack of traffic, as if that's a well thought out plan
if this goes ahead all you'll see is a massive build up of traffic on alternative routes
if this goes ahead all you'll see is a massive build up of traffic on alternative routes
Riggers said:
OllieC said:
The A14 should have been 3 lanes in part (easy with the benefit of hindsight I appreciate)
It's not just hindsight, really. It wouldn't have taken a genius to spot the need for a motorway-standard trunk route in the east of England 20 or even 30 years ago.Unfortunately the Nimbyism that's endemic in the UK, combined with the refusal of politicians to look beyond one term of office and the fashion for anti-road protests in the 80s and 90s put paid to anything other than piecemeal infrastructure development.
Now everybody's trying to pick up the pieces and the motorist will have to foot the bloody bill for the roads, while we're all paying for the lack of foresight with extra congestion and an economy throttled by a crumbling, inadequate road and rail network.
'Proper planning prevents p***-poor performance' is a mantra the UK would have done well to pay at least lip service to.
Not that I feel in any way strongly about this issue, you understand...
I also lived just north of Cambridge off the A14. I moved ten years ago. Even then it was a terrifyingly dangerous piece of road. Frequent accidents, some fatal. All because they tried to squeeze too much traffic up the same stretch.
Having said that, I'd be happy to pay tolls if they'll just abandon car tax and remove fuel duty completely.
And Pigs Will Fly.
suffolk009 said:
25 years ago, I worked at a big civil engineering firm that was making a small fortune drawing up plans for the government to build a new East-West route. Big debate was motorway or A road. It obviously never got built.
I don't know who irks me more: Swampy et al, myopic, weak politicians, or the general public!There are things they could do to make the existing road more efficient. I use it 3 days per week from Peterborough to Cambridge, and based on what i've seen in the last 5 years this is my opinion:
Close laybys. The speed differential caused by lorries pulling into traffic is a big cause of accidents (at worst), and results in traffic bunching up (at best). Build a dedicated lorry park off the carriageway with a looooong exit sliproad.
At the M11 junction, change it so that it's only 1 lane of the A14 that feeds the M11. Put solid lines/barriers in place so that it's illegal to change lanes half way between bar hill and the M11. When the A14 over the top of cambridge gets slow, it clogs up around this junction because people are changing lanes at the last minute. The left 2 lanes should be for the A14 only. This is essentially what people tend to do anyway - they sit in the middle lane, pass the queue in the lane that's officially for the A14, then cut in at the last minute. Traffic for the M11 can then flow better.
Ban lorries overtaking. Car drivers aren't intelligent enough to realise that if a lorry is overtaking, then it CAN'T be doing more than 60, yet they still approach the back of a queue at 70 and are surprised when it is only doing 60. This then causes the traffic to bunch up - 2 miles back it's at a standstill.
Close laybys. The speed differential caused by lorries pulling into traffic is a big cause of accidents (at worst), and results in traffic bunching up (at best). Build a dedicated lorry park off the carriageway with a looooong exit sliproad.
At the M11 junction, change it so that it's only 1 lane of the A14 that feeds the M11. Put solid lines/barriers in place so that it's illegal to change lanes half way between bar hill and the M11. When the A14 over the top of cambridge gets slow, it clogs up around this junction because people are changing lanes at the last minute. The left 2 lanes should be for the A14 only. This is essentially what people tend to do anyway - they sit in the middle lane, pass the queue in the lane that's officially for the A14, then cut in at the last minute. Traffic for the M11 can then flow better.
Ban lorries overtaking. Car drivers aren't intelligent enough to realise that if a lorry is overtaking, then it CAN'T be doing more than 60, yet they still approach the back of a queue at 70 and are surprised when it is only doing 60. This then causes the traffic to bunch up - 2 miles back it's at a standstill.
We'll all go out and buy Polo bluemotions... pay f**k all road tax... Government runs out of cash, then watch a "new tax" be introduced.... Be it tolls, congestion charges and so on... They always find a way of making the motorist pay in the end!
But on the other side of things, look at how much other countries pay in toll charges to use the "direct" or "best" route. The USA in particular pay more toll charges, but the cost of gas (fuel to you and me!) and overall cost of motoring is much less!
But on the other side of things, look at how much other countries pay in toll charges to use the "direct" or "best" route. The USA in particular pay more toll charges, but the cost of gas (fuel to you and me!) and overall cost of motoring is much less!
What i didn't realise is that the A1(M) from Peterborough to Alconbury is actually a toll road, but the government pays the construction/management company on behalf of the public every year based on the number of cars that use it. I don't think that's an option now given how bankrupt we are, though we can always print as much cash as we need.
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