Our new Transport Secretary, Phillip Hammond, seems to be making all the right noises. And at least he’s being honest. He’s recently said that the nation’s threadbare finances mean that building new roads with public money won’t be easy. But in that statement at least there’s a tacit acceptance that we do need more new roads. Something that the Labour lot would never, ever have admitted. Hammond has also hinted that any big, extra capacity road projects would have to be paid for by the private sector and that he and his team have been impressed by the M6 Toll. To me, this is good news.

And before you get on your high horse, we’re not talking about road charging but road tolls. And there’s a difference. I regularly use the M6 Toll and its quite simply Britain’s Best Road. A smooth as unrolled silk, well maintained and congestion free, it’s a road model that really works. I gratefully pay a fiver not to sit in impotent rage on the constipated M6 and would welcome more asphalt like it. The brutal truth is we’re not going to get any more major roads funded by the government, so toll roads are our only option. As long as they’re fairly priced, modelled on the European system of toll-booths and not through some devious satellite charging system, then at least we’ll get the extra capacity we need. I firmly believe that the UK’s major road infrastructure is in such a mess that this is the only realistic and sensible option.

I’d like to see some reduction in fuel duty and road tax to compensate for the extra cost that motorists will have to pay, but at least we could begin now on a network of new motorways that will go some way to easing our impossible congestion. But don’t talk to me about spending £35 billion on a High Speed rail network that nobody will use. Barely 10% of consumers use trains in Europe and their rail networks are a million times better than ours ever will be. Build some big new roads, Mr Hammond. And build them soon.

Quentin Willson   

Our politician’s ignorance about road transport is a scandal. When the nation is howling for better roads and better road maintenance, when surveys say that 70% of the population are being directly affected by inadequate road investment, when the level of dissatisfaction with our road network is the highest ever, what happens? Nothing.  An unbelievable and total lack of awareness. Over the last month I’ve been waiting for some sort of electoral position. Some glimmer of hope that one of our political parties understands how desperately poor our road system is and how important this issue is to the general electorate. But the silence has been deafening.

 And the only conclusion I can come to is that our politicians simply don’t understand how bad things have become. Their London-centric lives prevent them from experiencing what you and I see on a daily basis. The congestion, delays, pollution and wasted time. They can’t ever sit in the tailbacks that we do. Can’t ever experience the rage, frustration and anger that normal hard-working motorists are made to suffer so needlessly. Because if they did, surely they’d do something? Surely they’d speak out and make improving this country’s road network a major political priority? But they don’t. All they give us is more cycle and bus lanes and the promise of a high speed rail network that will make no difference at all. 

 As we approach a general election is to the eternal shame of all three major political parties that none of them has so far raised this hugely important issue. And if you want proof that our politicians are indeed detached from their sources and no longer in touch with the realities of daily life - this is the one thing that robustly proves it. They have become insulated and protected from the grim business of getting from A to B by road. Their ignorance and lack of interest is absolutely unforgivable.