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It seems as if the Government is trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot. Converting hard shoulders for peak time running appears to be a favoured cheap solution to our motorway traffic congestion problems rather than actual lane widening.
The second stretch of motorway hard shoulder running was opened this week.
Cars being driven the seven miles between junctions four and five of the M6 near Birmingham are now permitted to use the hard shoulder as a traffic lane during peak periods.
In March last year, the then Transport Minister Ruth Kelly officially opened a 1.7-mile stretch of hard shoulder between the southbound M606 and the eastbound M62 towards Leeds for use by cars and taxis carrying two or more people. This followed the construction of new lay-bys for broken down vehicles, with the new high occupancy lane estimated to save up to seven minutes on journey times.
Next week sees the first so-called 'through-junction running' scheme, where drivers using the hard shoulder will be able to drive across the exit and entry lanes on the M42. Now that could be hazardous unless motorists are particularly prudent.
However, results from the pilot scheme reveal a 22% increase in journey times and a lower number of accidents, down from an average of 5.1 per month to just 1.8 per month. Controlled speed running, as has been practiced on the M25 for several years now, seems to be working.
The current Transport Minister, Chris Mole, claims the Government is on track to create 340 miles of hard shoulder running by 2015. The cost to develop will eat up half of the £6bn national roads programme budget!
It will be interesting to see if ultimately it is money well spent or whether it is forestalling the inevitable - more road construction.
I hope for the country's sake that it works but I can't help feeling it's all a bit of a botch job, a bit like the good old days when you filled rust holes with Isopon. It was only ever a temporary solution.
We have yet to receive from Government a cohesive plan to solve our transport problems, namely an integrated transport solution.
How long do we have to wait? Meanwhile, it appears to be papering over the cracks.
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