Prepare For A Road Up Near You Soon

Friday, 22. October 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

You’ll probably be pleased to hear that over the next 10 years there’s going to be a £32 billion programme of replacing ageing electricity cables and gas pipes across the UK. As a result the AA has proposed that the utility firms should be charged the moment they start digging up roads as a sort of lane rental in order to speed up the work and limit the inconvenience to road users. Edmund King, president of the AA said, ‘Governments have procrastinated for a quarter of a century. With £32 billion worth of upgrades coming we need to have an efficient system in place so it doesn’t produce £32 billion of congestion.’ Boris Johnson has backed the idea and regional and local transport minister, Norman Baker is looking at ways to minimise congestion, including lane rental. Yeah right – I’m dreading it! By Graham Hill