Archived press release

Newbury Bypass will save two minutes on most journeys

19 February 1996

Documents just obtained from the Government's Highways Agency reveal that for most of the through traffic using the A34, the "time savings are approximately two minutes" after construction of the controversial Newbury Bypass. [1] This is because the time saved using the new road is largely offset by the extra distance travelled along the bypass.

Last summer, Friends of the Earth threatened legal action against the Highways Agency unless it released vital information on the Newbury bypass. The Agency has now provided a report revealing that traffic in off-peak times (the majority of the traffic) will gain only two minutes in journey time when the bypass opens. A smaller amount of traffic, which travels through Newbury in peak hours, is expected to gain up to 15 minutes in journey time. The Highways Agency concluded that "for the majority of traffic, the time savings to individual vehicles will be relatively small."

The bypass will make so little difference to local congestion that the journey on the old A34 bypass around the town centre would be only one minute faster when the bypass opens. The Highways Agency concede that "for local traffic the urban area around the A34 is congested, and will remain so on completion of the bypass". According to the Highways Agency, 70% of the traffic on this present stretch of the A34 is local.

Tony Juniper, Campaigns Director of Friends of the Earth said:

"So much for speeding up traffic from North to South. The Government is spending 100 million of taxpayers money destroying wildlife sites which are thousands of years old for an insignificant gain of a few minutes. The bypass has fallen flat on its face again."

The average wait at Southampton Ports for unloading a container off a lorry and reloading it with another container is 20 minutes. The journey time from Birmingham to Southampton is approximately 2 1/2 hours. [3]

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] The Highways Agency paper states under the section on A34 Through Traffic' that "In the opening year off-peak forecast time savings are approximately two minutes, with the junction delays in Newbury being offset by the longer travel time on the bypass. In the peak hours the typical savings increase to around fifteen minutes for through traffic. However these savings will only apply to longer distance traffic which would normally pass through Newbury during the peak delay periods which will generally last for up to two hours / day. During the remaining hours, and therefore for the majority of traffic, the time savings to individual vehicles will be relatively small."

[2] The undated paper from the Highways Agency is called "A34 Newbury bypass Review Working Paper - Induced Traffic". It was written as part of the review' of the bypass in 1995.

[3] The times given by the computer package autoroute' for two routes from Southampton to Birmingham via Newbury are 2 hr 38 mins and 2 hr 39 mins.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust