Legal challenge threat to major roads programme - RAC comment

Reacting to the news that the Government's five-year road building plan could be subject to a legal challenge, RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said:

“The reality is that there are more than 42 million drivers in the UK that depend on the road network. Without sufficient investment we risk traffic grinding to a halt. Heavily congested roads mean inefficient engines and as a consequence higher levels of emissions, so it stands to reason that we should be investing in schemes to improve traffic flow as well as making our road transport greener.

“Of course, it’s important that drivers are given alternatives to car use, but our own research suggests that car dependence is driven by the lack of practical and affordable alternatives. We are moving towards zero-tailpipe emission vehicles and it is vital that we continue to invest in our road network to provide the capacity and infrastructure that will be needed not just for now, but for the future. Any attempts to block vital road investment schemes will be bad for congestion, bad for emissions and bad for the economy, and would be akin to ‘cutting your nose off to spite your face’.”