HIGHWAYS Cont. from page 31


London congestion charging has gained favourable economic appraisals and made London a more pleasant place to live.


Lessons from overseas demonstrate this can work. A national price-per-kilometre charge for all vehicles is currently being introduced in the Netherlands, Germany has introduced tolls for lorries using its motorways and the Lexus lanes in the United States demonstrate how consumer choice – through charges – can square with earning returns for private investors. The public have demonstrated they are prepared to pay more for improved service as shown by premier air travel.


London


congestion charging has gained favourable economic appraisals and made London a more pleasant place to live


A demand related approach has the benefits in charging more directly for congestion and pollution, constraining demand for travel when the upturn comes, and raising much needed revenue at the same time.


At some point, there has to be the recognition that – although not a magic bullet – road pricing does offer a means to encourage behavioural change to help address climate change, the fiscal management of the road network and also a way to manage demand and congestion much more effectively than we do currently. The Institution is, of course, willing to offer its knowledge and expertise to the debate.


Onto the third point in the list: protection. Crossrail has survived and this reminds me of Boris Johnson’s quip at our annual luncheon last December ‘when you’re in a hole as big as Crossrail all you can do is keep digging’.


Since then Johnson has called for protection of infrastructure projects and we believe he is right to do so. The Institution


36 pse


would like to see the coalition government resist the


temptation to slash spending on transport.


Severe cuts will mean that the traveling public will have to endure a decaying transport network and ever increasing congestion across all modes.


If you invest in maintaining and improving the transport network you help create an environment where people can travel for employment and thereby help support local industry.


The UK already ranks poorly in terms of the quality of its infrastructure – 33rd


for its overall infrastructure quality.


Broken down into transport components, the UK is ranked 30th


of its roads, 21st


of its railroads infrastructure and 35th


transport infrastructure.


The UK is lagging behind on its infrastructure quality given that it is ranked 6th in the world on GDP.


Good infrastructure is a powerful driver for growth and recent research from the OECD show that the UK economy spends less on this area as a proportion of GDP than any other OECD country.


We know that poor transport infrastructure slows productivity growth by raising transportation costs and by making the labour market less flexible. Even if congestion has eased during the current economic downturn, the congestion crunch will come if we are not far-sighted enough to invest now and continue to invest in infrastructure through the lean years.


There is clearly a long way to go on the road to an improved transport infrastructure and short term measures to balance the books should not result in damaging the UK longer term economic interests.


Making better use of the network means making existing assets work better. For example, intelligent infrastructure enabled through technological advancements can offer greater responsiveness and flexibility.


in the world


The Managed Motorways scheme by the Highways Agency offers a good example of how technology has been applied to improve use of the network.


in the world for the quality for the quality


for the quality of its air


Where infrastructure improvements are identified, CIHT believes they must be targeted to improve capacity in the most congested areas to ease pinch points on the major roads network.


Provided within the current fiscal squeeze there should be a hierarchy of investment: maintaining and safely operating our network; making better use of that network; and, make targeted infrastructure improvements.


Ultimately, decisions will come down to the fourth point: politics. We hope that the coalition represents a degree towards consensus building not seen before in British politics and one that will lead to our aspiration of an all- party consensus on a 20 year strategy to ensure that projects are sustainable, effective and delivered.


Tell us what you think at opinion@publicsectorexecutive.com Jul/Aug 10


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