CLAIMS by Britain’s road builders that new roads will boost the local economy
have little basis, says an official report published this week. The report, from
the government’s Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment,
undermines one of the main arguments for building roads.
Promoting the economy has always been one of the key objectives of government
transport policy. The argument that new roads promote economic growth in the
areas they serve has held sway since the 1950s.
The committee points out that this overlooks the simple fact that roads carry
traffic in two directions. Road builders’ economic arguments fail to
“acknowledge the two-way nature of improved accessibility”, says the report. In
other words, jobs are just as likely to haemorrhage away from a community after
a road is built as they are to be sucked in.
“The available evidence does not support arguments that new transport
investment in general has a major impact on economic growth,” the report
concludes.
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The committee says that cutting traffic will not only be good for the
environment, but may also benefit the economy—because the lorries that
carry the nation’s goods will not be snarled up in traffic jams.
The report is part of the consultation process leading up to the government’s
White Paper on transport, scheduled for May, and will heighten demands for a
shift away from further road building.
