We want answers on bypass questions
Wednesday 29th July 2009, 8:10AM BST.
LETTER: Can somebody clarify a few points about the proposed Shrewsbury northern relief road?
The No-Way Group spokesman states that it takes about 15 minutes to cross the town by car. Is this from the Churncote roundabout to the Battlefield link road?
And at what time of day? It may be possible late at night but I cannot see it as being possible during the rush hour. Will it really increase carbon emissions?
I would have thought that a stop-start journey through the town centre would produce more emissions than a quick journey along the link road, as I believe cars are more efficient at higher speeds.
The link road option would also keep the emissions well away from the town’s workers, inhabitants and shoppers.
It is also claimed that the traffic will build up and wipe out the benefit. If the road is not built any build-up of traffic will have to go through the town, making for an even slower journey and even more in-town pollution.
The link road will still take a lot of the traffic and emissions away. I am of such an age that I probably will not still be driving in 2017, so I have no particular axe to grind one way or the other, but it seems that some of the “facts” need to be questioned and answers given.
Bryan Boakes
Shrewsbury
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Bryan Boakes, during rush hour most people would be savvy enough not to go from Churncote to Battlefield via the town centre, but would go around on the A5 and A49.
I believe, therefore, that is incorrect to say that build-up traffic would ‘have to go through the town’; it can go around.
The rest of the day (ie not during rush hour) the route through town does not take long.
What’s more, traffic levels in Shrewsbury have been going down since 2004 due to forward-looking policies introduced by Shropshire Council, which have promoted walking, cycling and bus use. ( See chart on http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/traveltransport.nsf/viewAttachments/LROE-7RHKQB/$file/ltp-2008-progress-report-final.pdf page 21). Most car journeys, after all, are short ones and the message is gradually getting through that cheaper, cleaner alternatives for these trips will improve our quality of life.
The UK is currently £179 billion in debt.
With climate change rapidly moving towards the heart of the transport debate and peak oil on the horizon, a growing number of people believe that -in these cash-strapped times- when £100 million of transport money is spent, that it should be directed at cutting carbon and making our transport system more sustainable and resilient to the widely predicted economic shocks ahead.
This means
1) subsidies for public transport (to make it cleaner, safer, more reliable and more affordable),
2) encouraging walking with paths, walkways, clear signs and user-friendly maps
3) encouraging cycling and building on successful policies already in place (see discussion thread of http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/06/19/town-gets-cycling-boost/ for evidence of those who DO have an axe to grind, Bryan)
4) public education about sustainability issues
5) publicity about car-sharing schemes ( see https://www.liftshare.com/uk/ )
6) promotion of car clubs
I hope that answers your questions, Bryan Boakes. It would be great if you could join this discussion, as I would like some questions answered, too.
In this thread ( http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/07/23/relief-road-backed/ #15 ), I put some points to one contributor called Julian Graves, but he was unable to answer them as the thread was stopped.
Could anyone who is for this road please answer them?
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Huw Peach, the vast majority of the points (2 – 6)that you raised in your post are valid and I think that the vast majority of people would agree with them.
Where I disagree with you to a certain extent is with reagrds to public transport – public transport already receives billions of pounds of subsidies, and yet we have a public transport that most people I feel believe is of poor quality, poor coverage, poor timetabling,inefficient and impractical.
I drive to work – from Telford to Birmingham each day and for me and many otehrs who work in the office with me it is just not practical to use public transport.
There is no bus service at all on the estate that I live on, so would have to use a car or taxi to get me to the nearest public transport connection and then taxi at the other end.
Subsidies need to be invested in alternative energu sources for motor vehicles, to that end in the last couple of years there has been massive improvements in electric cars and over the next 10 years even bigger improvements will be made.
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Research by sustainable transport writer, Lynn Sloman (author of ‘Car Sick’ (Green Books, 2006), shows that:
- 40% of car trips could be made by bike, on foot or by public transport without the need for any changes to existing bus services, cycle tracks or streets.
- 40% of trips are too far to walk, too difficult to cycle, or do not have a bus or train service. These trips could be made without using a car if such options were improved.
- 20% of journeys have to be made by car: typically for uses such as carrying a heavy load or transporting an elderly relative.
Comparatively cheap policies like education, public awareness campaigns, travel plans by schools and workplaces, easily understandable cycle and walking route maps and signposts are already helping to tackle the first 40% chunk.
These sustainable alternatives to road-building have been successful in reducing car traffic in Shrewsbury town centre since 2004 (see #1).
Encouraging people like you, Richard, and the second 40% tranche, to leave their cars behind requires political will, a clear understanding of the imperative of sustainability and investment.
To make that choice efficient, practical and attractive to you means better quality, extended coverage and better time-tabling.
I would argue that, in light of the challenges ahead with climate change and peak oil, £100 million of public money would be better spent on building up public transport in Shropshire rather than on controversial roads through SSSIs, which will save people travelling from Churncote to Battlefield a few minutes at rush hour.
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It was encouraging to me that you mentioned alternative energy sources, Richard.
The centrepiece of the Green Party manifesto for next year’s election is the Green New Deal, which pushes massive investment in alternative energy, energy efficiency and public transport to get Britain working again.
This is particularly important at the moment in light of the appalling unemployment statistics and the job-creating potential of this programme.
However, alternative energy only has a future if politicians are willing to stand up for it when it counts ( see Conservative MP Owen Paterson’s rejection of wind http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/07/16/joy-at-windfarm-ruling/ and Lib Dem MP Lembit Öpik’s http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/07/15/opik-hands-in-turbine-petition/ ). At the moment it appears they do not locally.
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Huw Peach – I am pleased that you have identified your green credentials.
I have written a number of times in the Shropshire Star about the issues regarding the traffic lights on key roundabouts in Telford – Ketley and Trench, and I have even tried to get the Green party to explain why they do not support Part-time traffic lights. It is absolutley barmy that for a large part of the day the lights stop many people unnecessarily -which causes vehicles to emit nasty emissions into the air – but the silence from the Green Party defens me.
Huw – From a green point of view what do you think of part-time traffic lights ?
I look forward to your answer.
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I am not an expert in these matters, Richard, but I would think that traffic lights that respond intelligently to traffic levels are a good idea for the reasons you mention.
Sustainability needs to be at the heart of design and manufacturing just as much as it needs to be at the heart of traffic management, in my view.
I’m sorry that I missed your request for clarification. Please feel free to e-mail me using the address on the Shropshire Green Party website.
Now, back to the subject of this thread, would you not agree -in view of the economic crisis- that we need policies from government, which simultaneously promote sustainability and combat rising unemployment?
Investing in public transport would create jobs locally, remove congestion and avoid the destruction of our local countryside.
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Huw, why not propose that all none public transport was banned from the roads and airspace that would really force people to use public transport.
To achieve the level and standard of public transport that you desire would cost ten’s of billions of pounds not only in capital expenditure but also in annual subsidies. With the Counry massively in debt could we afford it.
In addition to the costs and subsidies, what about the lost revenue from reduce fuel tax and rft !!!!! a very big money earner for the Government. If the Government spent the moeny collected from fuel duty on the roads then that would help to reduce congestion possibly.
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Richard Breeze, if public transport is so heavily subsidised, why does it cost my wife and 2 young children £8.20 to get the local bus from Gains Park (near Churncote roundabout) into town?
£85 million is an obscene amount to spend on a road which just isn’t necessary. I can drive to Sundorne on the ring road or Battlefield on the bypass easily in 15-20 minutes, even at busy times. The only hold-ups on the A5 are the two roundabouts that have been fitted with traffic lights (which I consider to be more dangerous than before).
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Simone – public transport is heavily subsidied fact – especially the trains, the Government puts billions of pounds not only into the companies running the public transport but also into the infrastructure, if they did not then nobody else would.
With regards to the cost of bus fares, through poor timetabling and low utilisation the bus company has to recover their costs, even with support from our own local Council, so they do it through the ticketing. Also all the free travel to certain groups has to be recovered from somewhere.
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I agree with Simone, i live near gains park and the price for me and my children to use the bus is far to high. So surely this money would be better spent on new, clean buses and helping to reduce the costs so people actually use them. Also i can make it to Battlefield easily in 15 minutes from the welshpool roundabout. Only on bank holidays is it very busy. My husband travels the road to Telford everyday and has very few problems. This road just isn’t needed.
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Moving investment away from new roads (especially controversial, environmentally destructive, unneeded ones) towards cleaner, safer, more affordable, regular and reliable public transport would create jobs locally and create the sort of public service, which Simone and EE want.
For the long term.
A NWRR would only boost employment in the very short term, and destroy Shrewsbury’s green for ever.
I’m going to have to sign off now for a bit, Richard, but I would be interested to know your views on the JOB-creating potential of this shift in the emphasis of transport spending.
In June there were 4,995 people out of work in Shropshire ( http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/shropshire/factsfigures.nsf/open/CBAC00139958E6DC8025748800336538 ).
It’s 2.38 million and rising in the UK as a whole.
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im agrreing with huw, this is madness, not a national priority surely! there is so much more congestion down south. when will the government learn there is no more cash in the bank, we are skint, stop spending money and if it must be spent target it on the worst congested areas e.g. hereford, london m25, wemberly on match days etc
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Labour just milks the motorists for taxes, conservatives are the motorists friend, we will slash taxes on petrol and get us moving again, we will build more new roads and help british lorry drivers by keeping the foreigners out
get clown brown out now, cut taxes now,
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im not convinced on the economic case for this
they price things like waiting in the car for 5 mins in traffic assuming we’re on a paid hourly rate, in reality im normally chilling on the hands free catching up on calls or listening to the radio or language tapes, certainly my car queues are not unproductive time, im a busy man and i make every minute count!
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economics is a wierd thing, how can you put a price on nature ? or on road crashes and losing a loved one etc its nuts
i agree that the economic case for the road is sketchy because in my opinion keep shrewsbury as a small people sized town with a big quadrant of protected green space all along the edge of coton hill, frankwell, shelton, etc IS PRICELESS
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we must stop this terrible scheme
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personally i would rather they spent the money on reducing tax
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SSSI’s like the pond on this route should be protected not destroyed by roads
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The road will be built.
Deal with it.
I cannot believe the fuss about a road that will take up an area of 64,000m2 in a county with an area of about 1,645,000,000m2.
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