Tolls over the river Wye

Friends of the Earth Cymru is calling on the Welsh Assembly and Monmouthshire County Council to carry out a study into a road-tolling scheme for Chepstow to protect the town's quality of life. The group says that a road toll on the busy A48 trunk road through Chepstow could reduce HGV rat-running, traffic congestion and road danger. Local Friends of the Earth campaigners think that tolls could significantly reduce the lorry traffic which is avoiding the Severn Bridge tolls and reduce rush-hour congestion and road danger by tolling non-local vehicles passing through the town. The revenue raised by the tolls would be ring-fenced to provide far better rail and bus services especially to Bristol and other commuting centres.

Last week a traffic accident on the Chepstow's tortuous Hardwick Hill brought the town to a stand-still and there were tailbacks for six hours.

Neil Crumpton, transport spokesperson for Friends of the Earth Cymru said:

"A significant part of the traffic problems in Chepstow relate to the high volumes travelling through the town particularly in the rush hours. The physical characteristics of the A48, including Hardwick Hill with its bends and junctions, do not help smooth traffic flow and add to the congestion, pollution, noise and public safety problems."

"A bypass would probably remove most of the existing problems but bypasses tend to create new problems such as encouraging more long-distance commuting, damaging local green spaces and creating noise, safety concerns and air pollution in new areas. Sedbury, Caernarfon Way and Conwy Drive would be affected. A bypass would also likely be expensive due to the need to cross the river and is probably a low priority for the Assembly. In fact the Assembly is consulting on the possibility of de-trunking the A48."

"Yet, a road toll through Chepstow could work because of the town's geography, the surrounding road and motorway network and the emergence of new tolling technology. New 'smart' systems, such as optical number plate recognition, can be very targeted and could exempt or reduce tolls for Chepstow residents, local deliveries, taxis and the like depending on time of day, peak hours, weekends, or whatever."

"Road tolls would not only dissuade rat-running HGVs and non-local motorists at chosen times but they would also raise ring-fenced funds for public transport provision. As Chepstow lies on a rail link with poor peak-time services it would be possible to fund increased services particularly to and from Bristol, Newport, Cardiff, Lydney and Gloucester. Express coach services may also encourage some car commuters to avoid the growing congestion on the road links along the M4 corridor. New dial-a-ride schemes might also become viable."

Friends of the Earth Cymru have written to the Assembly and County Council calling for a feasibility study on tolling the A48 through the town. The study would identify the likely traffic reduction given the charge at the times chosen, the criteria for exemptions, the cost and type of the tolling hardware, and the revenue levels needed to provide specific public transport initiatives (2).

Notes

1) Could the road be tolled? Technically it is possible, as has been demonstrated in London, a much more complex road network. Indeed, all HGV's using UK roads will be tolled by 2006 using satellite tracking. The more interesting question is what are the powers relating to road
tolling.

The current policy for tolling a TRUNK road is that the tolled section has to be EITHER a major estuary crossing (of a certain minimum length *) such as the River Severn, or if the trunk road lies within an area-wide congestion charging scheme (eg. within central London) IF there have been up-front public transport improvements. Road tolling of the whole UK trunk and motorway network has been ruled out during this decade by Aleister Darling the Transport secretary.

However, this does not necessarily mean small schemes addressing specific problems would be rejected out of hand. Particularly so, if the scheme is a pilot scheme, located in Wales which has much of road policy as a devolved area. Indeed, it could be pointed out that the need for a scheme is partly as a result of road tolling on the Severn Bridge causing reassignment to an unsuitable un-tolled route.

The current policy for tolling NON-TRUNK roads may allow more scope for tolling and or other restrictions. There are currently numerous roads with weight restrictions and the A472 in Usk has an environmental restriction to protect the urban fabric. Physical traffic calming features are also more likely to be acceptable but in this situation would be a blunt instrument as opposed to a smart tool.

2) Rail services could be improved by additional services especially in the commuting hours where provision is currently poor. Infrastructure improvements would also help, particularly:

• Severn Tunnel - The current Railtrack Network Management Statement (NMS) shows this section operating at more than 90% capacity, and the long signalling block section within the tunnel constrains the number of trains able to run through the tunnel. Intermediate signalling is long overdue and would increase capacity through the tunnel.

• Filton Junction, Bristol - The single lead junction (SLJ) at Filton restricts capacity and hinders operational flexibility on all East-West and North-South routes in this busy area. A junction improvement would increase capacity and also remove a significant safety hazard.

Additional coach, bus and dial-a-ride services would need to be identified and funded as required by toll revenue.