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 Post subject: New toll road
PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 19:36 
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Not every new road project needs to be funded in this way but because of the scale and cost of the A14 scheme the Government believes it is fair that road users should make a direct contribution towards the cost of improvement

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56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing


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 Post subject: Re: New toll road
PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 20:26 
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Drivers face new A14 toll road wrote:
The Highways Agency said: "The use of tolls to finance major highway infrastructure projects is not new in Britain and is the means by which the Queen Elizabeth Bridge at Dartford, the M6 Toll, and the Second Severn Crossing were all funded.


...and wasn't the Dartford crossing bought and paid for (via tolls) some years ago - and yet the tolls remain, not only costing the motorist money but also creating artificial congestion at the booths? :mad:

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 Post subject: Re: New toll road
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 20:55 
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At least the Dartford crossing provided something that did not previously exist and the M6 toll supplements the existing road, with the A14 they are going to make the existing road non-viable to force drivers to pay for the new one.

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 Post subject: Re: New toll road
PostPosted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 15:58 
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Did all the people that had motorways or prime trunk routes built through their locale have to pay for them ?

Then why are the locals to the A14 being required to pay just because it runs through their locale ?

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 Post subject: Re: New toll road
PostPosted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 22:39 
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Location: Treacletown ( just north of M6 J3),A MILE OR TWO PAST BEDROCK
With the appearance of our local Tory MP every time there's a story doing the rounds, expect to see a message " No Tory MP was involved in the decision process" ( much as we see statements on nature programs "no animals were hurt in filming").

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 Post subject: Re: New toll road
PostPosted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 08:15 
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It doesn't work that way. The message on the approach of an election (minimum 10-days, maximum 21 days) will be: "I personally disapproved of that aspect [delete aspect, or insert aspect, as desired] and will do all I can, if elected, to modify the decision"
Each standing MP gets an intensive briefing on what the local expectorate (sorry, electorate) consider important.....ask awkward questions and they get ignored.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing


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 Post subject: Re: New toll road
PostPosted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 19:14 
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Just been announced.

The upgrade of the A14 through Hunts will go ahead but the road will NOT be tolled.

YAY !

Why should us locals be tolled just because the road runs through our area ?
Does Luton pay a toll just because the M1 upgrade runs passed their place ?

Anyway.. On each of the proposals I stated "No Tolls"

Looks like a lot of other people (& businesses) did too


Yay People power.

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 Post subject: Re: New toll road
PostPosted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 03:40 
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Well that is good news. Considering all the projects that have retained their funding on non essential projects, a road which is high in demand seems like a very good thing to retain under Gov coffers.
To say that it will be more economical as a toll for people to choose is a grave mis- understanding of the public!
Like many I will go for the 'already paid for' road than the one I have to pay extra to travel.

Like the M6 toll, it is more used when the M6 is very busy or very congested or blocked!
But that is a motorway, this A14 has little alternatives! it is absolutely right that this will not be a toll!

It also occurs to me too about individual's privacy of any automated recording system too! Still holds true for the Con-Charge too!

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 Post subject: Re: New toll road
PostPosted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 03:45 
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BBC news wrote:
Plan to use tolls to fund A14 improvements abandoned
3 December 2013 Last updated at 14:29

Traffic on the A14 in Cambridgeshire The A14 works between Huntingdon and Cambridge could finish in 2019-20

Related Stories
A14 toll plan rejection 'a victory'
A14 toll plan a 'worrying precedent'
Tackle port 'bottlenecks' say MPs

Plans to create the UK's first toll road for a decade are to be dropped, with improvements to the A14 instead funded from general taxation.
The scheme involves widening a heavily congested 25-mile stretch in East Anglia carrying traffic from the port of Felixstowe to the Midlands.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he understands the strong opposition to the proposal to charge motorists.
The plan had been to raise 20% of the overall £1.5bn cost from tolls.
The Highways Agency had said that charges could be set at between £1 and £1.50 for cars using the 12-mile (19km) stretch of toll road, and about double this sum for lorries, although these figures were not finalised.
Overnight trips were to have been toll-free.

Proposed route of the A14 bypass
But Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander is expected to announce soon that the scheme has been dropped.
Road users reacted to the government's decision, with Fred Hand, a retired forklift truck engineer from Grantham, Lincolnshire, telling the BBC: "There's a real bottleneck between Huntingdon and Cambridge and it means delays every day. I hope something is going to happen.
"I'm glad we won't have to pay, but I would have paid to use the tolls because it's so bad. Anything to ensure the road is upgraded."

'Hard sell'
Ken Sanderson, a charity worker from Hadleigh, Suffolk, said: "I don't think the government considered the impact of the toll idea. Adding costs for lorries travelling from Felixstowe would badly affect East Anglia and the whole east of England.
"We pay the same road tax and fuel as people in Birmingham, Manchester and London, but I expect we don't get the same spending per head on roads.
"I know there's more population in those places, but East Anglia is trying to raise its profile, such as the IT developments taking place in Cambridge.
"Then there's the sort of bread-and-butter trade from Felixstowe, which is being disrupted."
He added: "The tolls would also have had an environmental impact, going on to the cheaper roads and causing congestion in towns and villages."
RAC Foundation director Stephen Glaister called the government's decision "a victory for common sense", adding: "Piecemeal tolling that would raise little money but create a lot of aggravation and delay was always going to be a hard sell and not the best advert for pay-as-you-go driving."
Plans to upgrade the A14 have been discussed for several years.

'Strong feelings'
In September, Mr Cameron said: "I think there is a strong case for saying when you're putting in new capacity, when you're dealing with congestion, that some of the people who are going to benefit from that, should pay something towards it.
"Everybody knows that we're living in circumstances where the government can't just create money.
"We have to live within our means. If we want transport programmes to go ahead - but we deal with our deficits and debts at the same time - we sometimes have to make some tough decisions."
But at the prime minister's weekly Commons question session last week he said: "I am well aware of the strong feelings in Suffolk about this issue and I have been approached about it by many Members of Parliament.
"I believe that road tolls can play an important part in providing new road capacity and it is important that we find ways to pay for road capacity, but I also understand the concerns about this individual case."
South Suffolk MP Tim Yeo had asked him whether he agreed there was a "risk that introducing tolls on roads without a toll-free alternative may undermine support for the sensible concept of road pricing".

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