Shropshire’s highway chiefs have spent nearly £6 million over the past 20 years on developing plans for a road which may never be built, it was revealed today.
But despite the cost - the equivalent of £300,000 a year - officials have again made a strong case for Shrewsbury’s North West Relief Road in a report to county council watchdogs.
The project is now dependent on a successful bid for Government regional funding and the earliest a start could be made on the scheme is 2014.
The report says that the council has been considering the scheme for at least 20 years.
Figures being presented to the council’s economy and environment scrutiny panel on Thursday show expenditure of £32,000 in 1987/88. By 1990/91 the total was just over the £1 million mark and by 2000 it had reached nearly £3 million.
“There was significant investment in the design of an earlier scheme for the NWRR in the late 1980s and again in the mid 1990s,” says the report.The Government’s Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) - under which the council was drawing up a bid but decided to drop last December - offered an opportunity for funding and early delivery of a relief road.
The report says: “For this reason, expenditure on scheme development was accelerated and provision was made for an increased budget of £1,426,000 in the financial year 2007/08 to allow a possible early construction date of 2010-2012.
“Following the council’s decision in December not to proceed with the TIF, it became clear that such early construction of a NWRR would no longer be feasible.
“Scheme development was slowed down accordingly and, as a consequence of this, expenditure in 2007/08 is expected to be below budget.”
Proposed expenditure this year is £350,000.
The report says the benefit-cost ratio of a new road has been examined by consultants, and reflects the fact that a NWRR would lead to a “significant reduction” in delays and journey times for a large number of people.
In addition to traffic impacts the report looks at similar schemes elsewhere in the country and alternatives to road building.
5 Comments
What a waste of money… just build the damn road! It is needed and will complete the Shrewsbury ring road once and for all. Traffic down Whitchurch Road, along the A5191 from Heathgates into the town centre and then Smithfield Road & the Welsh Bridge would be much lighter with the cross-town traffic using the new road.
where can I apply for a job with them?
scandalous - these people should be sacked
No JD, they NEVER sack them, they get promoted.
(It looks good on a CV, - has handled £6 million contracts).
BJH
Thats why we pay so much tax, it all goes on meetings and red tape, lets just hope that if they ever build it, they make it duel carriage way.