Lincolnshire roads have seen one of the biggest increases in traffic over the past decade - with central London the only place in the country to see a fall in vehicle numbers since 1997, according to tonight's Lincolnshire Echo.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone took a lot of flak when he brought in the controversial Congestion Zone - and it now costs £8 a day to drive into the centre of the capital.
But it's clearly effective in cutting traffic when all else has failed - and of course improving air quality in the capital. Ken has used the revenue generated by the Congestion Charge to massively invest in buses and the tube.
The result is that today, London is the only major city in the world to shift travellers out of their cars and onto public transport.
Local campaigners say Lincolnshire is heading for 'traffic hell' if action is not taken soon.
Central London and rural Lincolnshire could hardly be different, of course.
But radical solutions sometimes achieve results, as Ken clearly demonstrates.
I don't pretend to have all the answers - but I've long been convinced that sooner or later, we'll have to have some sort of Park-and-Ride service in the Deepings area to meet the extra traffic on the A15 Peterborough-Bourne corridor caused the huge increase in development in recent years.
What do you think?
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5 comments:
Lincolnshire has put a lot of investment into the road infrastructure over the years what with the Wainfleet Bypass, Spilsby Bypass, Burgh Bypass and so on.
What I think we need to do though is be bold by building a full circular ring road around Lincoln and introducing park and ride locations too.
Funding from Central Government is a problem though.
Geoffrey:
I agree with you about the need to complete the Lincoln relief ring road - and for the need for park and ride locations.
You are also right that Lincs CC has poured money into tarmac, sadly in my view at the expense of social services.
Hence Lincolnshire officially has some of the worst social services in the country.
You say there's a problem with getting Government money...
I'd ask you to remember that the bulk of the money for the three by-passes you mention came from the Labour government - not the county council...
And it was the Labour government who dualled the A46 from Newark to connect Lincoln to the rest of the world.
And I note that the same Government has just promised the bulk of the funds for the A1073 in the south of the county - approx. £70 million from memory towards the overall costs of the £80 million (approx) project...
You'll remember the A1073 - it's the one the former Tory Leader Jim Speechley interfered with - and ended up in prison!
Have a good weeekend...
It was the Conservatives who set up and put in motion the dualling of the A46 - Labour just claim the credit becauise they were fortunate to be in power when it was completed.
R U Serious, or wot?
Dualling of the Newark-Lincoln A46was promised by the tories for a generation but not a sod of earth was ever turned.
You may not like it Geoffrey, but I remember the 18 years of broken Tory promises.
It's clear that when your lot was finally kicked out, no proper preparation had been done.
Please stop trying to re-write history Geoffrey.
We have Gilly Merron and Labour top thank for the A46. Full stop.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/news/2002/02/22/newark_lincoln_road.shtml
Wrong again.
Kenneth Carlisle is the man to thank.
He put the wheels in motion.
Your lot just claimed the credit.
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