Overview
The motorway network in the UK has historically been funded by Central
Government, and has been operated without the use of Tolls. The West Midlands
Region suffers from severe congestion on it’s motorway
network. In particular the M6 motorway which was built to carry 72 000 vehicles
per day was carrying 165 000 vehicles per day. As a result the Government has
allowed the construction of the UK’s first privately owned motorway to relieve this
congestion.
The
M6 Toll Road has a length of 47Km and was opened in December
2003. Construction of the road cost £900m (1400m Euros) and was funded by a
private company. The company has the right to operate the road for 53 years,
after which time ownership returns to the Government.
The
M6 Toll Road connects the M6 Motorway north of the West Midlands conurbation to the M42 Motorway to the east of the
conurbation. This is shown in Figure 1 below. In this way the M6 Toll Road keeps traffic out of the heavily populated area in
which air quality is poorest.
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Figure 1 – Map of M6
Toll Road. M6 Toll shown in dashed blue
line.
The Impact of the M6 Toll Road
The M6
Toll Road is still relatively new, and
therefore changes to traffic levels are still continuing. However, the new road
has resulted in a reduction in traffic levels of approximately 10% in the
motorway network. This has had a very significant effect upon congestion on the
motorway network. This is shown in Figure 2 below.
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Figure 2 – The Effect of the M6
Toll Road upon Journey times on the M6
Figure 2 shows the average
journey times on the M6 before the M6 Toll Road was opened (red), the average
journey time on the M6 after the Toll Road was opened (dark blue) and the average
journey time on the M6 Toll Road (light blue). This shows that the new M6
Toll Road has had a very significant
impact upon congestion at peak times.
The high levels of congestion on
the existing motorway network have resulted in air quality objective levels
being exceeded in many locations across the West
Midlands region. Work is ongoing to evaluate the
improvement in air quality resulting from the reduction in congestion since the
M6 Toll Road opened.
However, it is anticipated that air quality within the conurbation will be
improved significantly due to the new road. |