RHA: roads investment will drive economic growth

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has urged the government to boost road capacity as a means of growing the economy, warning that a reliance on merely repairing existing routes will be insufficient to create the road network the transport sector requires.

Highlighting a recent article in the Times about congestion, RHA managing director Richard Smith cited significant increase over recent years in the delays on the strategic road network, comprising motorways and major A-roads – with average speeds now at their lowest since 2015 when comparable records began.

“Driving speeds on the network dropped to an average of 55.1mph in September, and have fallen by an average of 2mph since the start of the year,” he added.

“A record number of roadworks is attributed as a cause of the slowdown which is a huge concern especially with many of them plagued by bottlenecks through a lack of capacity and outdated design.

“Road maintenance and its inevitable disruption is frustrating but necessary. But patching up existing roads alone won’t give us the network we need. We’re campaigning for more road building to boost growth – and we’re hopeful that a reformed National Planning Policy Framework will clear some obstacles along the way.”

Mr Smith said the RHA was calling on the government to commit to increasing road capacity to boost journey efficiency, which he said would “take a sizeable chunk” out of the £30 billion annual cost to the economy of congestion.

“The green light for the long-awaited Lower Thames Crossing next year and other major road schemes would be a big boost to businesses and other roads users, and would help the government deliver on its mission to drive economic growth,” he concluded.