Greens Submit Proposals to A12 Inquiry

16 April 2008

No to bigger A12, yes to investment in safety

Essex Green Party has submitted a report and proposals to the A12 Inquiry being conducted by Sir David Rowlands (copy available on request).

The Greens oppose building a bigger A12 but support investment in making the road safer, smoothing traffic flows and improving public transport along the route corridor.

Cllr. James Abbott, Essex Green Party Co-ordinator said

"Throwing hundreds of millions of pounds at the A12 to widen it will not solve the long term transport problems through Essex. A wider A12 will generate even more traffic, clogging up towns along the route. It will generate even more air pollution. But it will not prevent the road from getting blocked by crashes - many 6 lane roads in the UK suffer regular disruption and closures from crashes. In fact the wider the road, the higher the volumes and speeds, the more likely that when crashes do occur, they will involve multiple casualties.

But we do agree the A12 needs investment. The Highways Agency has allowed substandard junctions to remain in place for years and has failed to maintain the road to a high enough standard. That is work that needs to be done soon. We also agree that better traffic management and lower speed limits along some sections could help smooth flows and reduce the incidents of crashes occuring in the first place.

If large sums of public money are available for infrastructure improvements, it needs to be spent on the railways and other forms of public transport to reduce congestion on the A12 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The County Council is currently making a lot of noise about the A12, some would say for publicity purposes, but what about the hard pressed rail lines in Essex that desperately need investment ? We need to be looking at the transport system in an integrated way."