Darling's plan to ease traffic road jams is 'misplaced'

Environmental campaigners and motorists' groups formed an unlikely alliance yesterday to criticise the Government's latest plans to cut congestion on Britain's roads.

They were responding to an announcement by Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, of a £145m rolling programme to improve conditions at 92 junctions on trunk roads and motorways. Motoring organisations said the measures amounted only to "treading water" after years of under-investment, while Friends of the Earth said the announcement marked another stage in the Government's failed transport policy.

The projects, to be completed within five years, aim to reduce congestion and improve safety. Three of the projects will cost more than £5m. The locations range from motorway junctions to dual carriageway roundabouts. Mr Darling said: "The Government is committed to tackling congestion and reducing the number of accidents on our roads."

Analysts said the move appeared to continue the trend of "sweating the assets", making the greatest use of the current road network. Terence Bendixson, secretary for the Independent Transport Commission, said: "This has been the policy for the last three or four years just because they know there is not going to be piles of money for a new motorway network."

The Government's 10-year plan for transport included the pledge to reduce congestion across England by about 5 per cent from the level in 2000.

But green lobbyists are angry that there is no attempt to reduce the numbers of cars and lorries on the roads.

Friends of the Earth said traffic levels had increased by more than 80 per cent in the past 20 years. Tony Bosworth, the transport campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said the 92 schemes represented a "misplaced sticking plaster on the wound of Britain's transport crisis.

"It's high time for the Government – from Tony Blair down – to accept that road building is not the answer and put enough money and effort in providing the high-quality alternatives to the car that are really needed," he said.

Paul Watters, head of roads and transport policy at the AA, said it wanted the Government to address bottlenecks, blackspots and bypasses. "It does the first two, but not the third and it's what the Government is finding difficult with road construction. This is just a little bit of treading water," he said.

Yesterday's announcement included a controversial scheme to use the hard shoulder as part of a sliproad on the M6. A similar scheme exists on the M5/M6 interchange in Birmingham.

The Highways Agency insists it has "no firm plans" to use hard shoulders to reduce congestion but senior transport industry figures say the idea has long been floated. Motoring organisations fear it would lead to more casualties – 250 people were killed or seriously hurt on hard shoulders last year.

Ann Skey, head of public affairs at the RAC, said: "We know from our experience of dealing with breakdowns, if you do not have a hard shoulder we face significant problems."