The road to better transport infrasctructure in the eyes of experts

Forget Brexit, if you are looking for a divisive topic of conversation, you could do a lot worse than the nation’s transportation infrastructure.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA WireTransport Secretary Grant Shapps. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Just like “getting Brexit done”, it seems that taking the Great British public from point A to B while keeping everyone happy isn’t such an easy task.

As motorists, rail and bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians, we are all stakeholders with our own individual interests at heart.

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Every complaint about an overcrowded train will be mirrored with a grievance about potholes in the road, an accusation of selfishness towards motorists or rule-breaking cyclists.

Tour de France legend Brian Robinson opened a National Cycle Network route in Castleford in 2014, taking the network over the 1,000 mile mark in Yorkshire.Tour de France legend Brian Robinson opened a National Cycle Network route in Castleford in 2014, taking the network over the 1,000 mile mark in Yorkshire.
Tour de France legend Brian Robinson opened a National Cycle Network route in Castleford in 2014, taking the network over the 1,000 mile mark in Yorkshire.

If we are to agree on anything — it’s that there needs to be more money invested in the nation’s transportation infrastructure to make it work for everyone.

There is clearly a lot of money on the table – an estimated £106bn alone for the proposed HS2 rail link between London and the great northern cities.

But HS2 isn’t the only game in town and the government is promising millions in investment across a range of projects improving regional rail services, bus services, and cycle infrastructure.

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Labour called the plan “meaningless” suggesting it would only pay for 25 miles of track while the Rail, Maritime, and Transport union (RMT) dismissed the investment as a “drop in the ocean.”

More recently, the Government has promised an additional £5bn to be spent on improving bus and cycling infrastructure and services in England and Wales over the next five years.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will undoubtedly throw the full weight of his office behind these plans, promising hundreds of new cycling paths, and priority routes for 4,000 “zero-carbon” buses.

However, Labour has already dismissed the investment as failing to address deep government cuts that have already led to thousands of route closures.

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It’s very easy to be cynical about these major rail and public transport infrastructure projects, particularly when the completion date for HS2 stretches well into the next decade and the promise of feasibility studies sounds like a lot more talking.

So how can the various stakeholders come together and ensure that the plans for our transportation infrastructure offer value for money and keep the nation moving forward at pace?

The AA’s somewhat cautious response to how money could better be spent improving infrastructure urges greater sharing of the transportation burden over the entire infrastructure.

“In reality, there are so many variables in comparing value for money that I think purpose and impact determine how effective the spending will be,” says spokesman Luke Bosdet.

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“For instance, if you can turn some of those Beeching routes into park and ride schemes for car commuters, you kill a number of birds with one stone: cutting emissions, improving journey speeds, freeing up road capacity, etc.”

Bosdet highlights how a park and ride scheme in Cambridge successfully converts 4.1 million car commuter trips into bus journeys. “It is so successful they struggle to meet demand,” says Bosdet. “The point is that joined-up thinking that integrates different transport routes can benefit rail and road at the same time.”

The walking and cycling charity Sustrans knows a thing or two about creating infrastructure on a budget. It famously completed the National Cycling Network (NCN) supported by a £42.5m grant from the National Lottery.

The route consists of 16,575 miles of cycle-friendly routes (5,273 are traffic-free) using shared use paths, disused railways (including a number of the routes closed by the Beeching report), minor roads, canal towpaths and traffic-calmed routes in towns and cities across the country.

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“We welcome the re-opening of disused railway lines in principle but it’s critical that the many walking and cycling routes that have been built alongside those lines are maintained too,” says Rosslyn Colderley, director in the North of England.

“These routes, some of which form the national cycle network, are a vital part of the country’s travel infrastructure, helping people to walk and cycle in a safe environment, as well as to commute by cycle.”

Sustrans has big plans for the NCN, hoping to add another 5,000 miles of traffic-free routes to the network by 2040. The cost of doing this while maintaining their existing infrastructure, much of which is in poor repair, is estimated at £2.8bn.

It insists there is a real economic argument to investing in cycling infrastructure with estimates suggesting that the extended NCN could provide a £7.6bn economic benefit to the country by reducing traffic congestion and supporting local businesses along the route.

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And with around 1,000 miles of NCN cycle routex currently situated in Yorkshire, more than in any other county, it is hoped the region will continue to benefit from further investment into pedal power.

Sustrans isn’t the only organisation that sees economic value from creating a safer infrastructure for all road users.

Road Safety GB is a national organisation that includes representatives from groups across the UK including local government road safety teams. Steve Horton, its director of communications believes that the money earmarked for feasibility studies into re-opening railways could go a long way to creating safer roads.

“We know that the benefit to society for saving a road traffic fatality is estimated by Government at around £2 million each (average across the UK),” says Horton.

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“Indeed, I’ve seen estimates for ongoing care for a child that suffers a serious life-changing injury, that requires high levels of lifelong care, running into several million across their lifetime.

So we know an investment in casualty reduction can have significant economic benefits to society, quite apart from the reduction in human pain and suffering.”

While the money invested in infrastructure might not go a long way and the completion dates for many projects may seem like a moving target, there’s no doubt we’ll be talking about the nation’s transportation infrastructure for almost as long as the proposed span of Boris Johnson’s proposed road bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Is this a vanity project, or might it just be a vision of the things to come? With an estimated cost of between £15bn and £20bn, we’ll no doubt be talking about it for many years to come.