From: Stuart Green, Sparken Close, Worksop.
WIDESPREAD traffic chaos was caused on Monday of last week by the closure
of the M62 following a serious lorry crash (The Yorkshire Post, June 9). The
extended closure led to increased traffic on other routes, not least the
Woodhead Pass (A628) which was badly affected with stationary traffic in both
directions between the Flouch Inn and Mottram over 14 miles distant. The problem
was exacerbated by the Snake Pass (A57) being totally closed for repairs.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, “passionately” supports the
creation of a “Northern Powerhouse” economy stretching from coast to coast.
However, it remains a total mystery how this might be achieved without provision
of modern cross-Pennine roads backed up with improved railways.
Better railways, yes, but how can the Chancellor back the expensive HS2
and HS3 vanity projects when Department for Transport (DfT) statistics
consistently show that roads are massively more important to the UK economy than
rail? Nationally, the distance covered by road passengers is 10 times greater
than by rail and seven times more freight is transported by road than rail.
Despite inland “rail ports” having advantages for long-distance bulk freight,
they cannot ever replace most lorry journeys needing door-to-door
delivery.
Apart from constructing the now overfull M62, little has been done to
improve trans-Pennine roads in the past 50 years. The A628 has long needed
massive upgrading including tunnelling at the summit of Woodhead and a short
distance under the Mottram area to join the M67. Such upgrading would
considerably improve trans-Pennine road connectivity for the wider Sheffield
City region and all regions beyond, both east and west of the
Pennines.
DfT latest statistics show revenue from fuel and excise duty topped £32bn
in 2013 but, in the same year, only £3bn was spent on national road improvements
and £5 billion on local roads. Beleaguered motorists may ponder these derisory
amounts while stuck in the next long queue, or as they hit yet another of the
bone-shaking potholes which permanently deface the roads of our inner
cities.
Unless the Government faces up to the problem and invests massively in
essential cross-Pennine and other roads, the Northern Powerhouse is certain to
remain a figment of Chancellor Osborne’s vivid
imagination.
