Black Country bypass: No quick fix for our congested motorways say transport bosses
Transport bosses have insisted they no longer want to use a quick ‘sticky plaster approach’ when it comes to dealing with congested motorways in the West Midlands.
Leading business figures met at Little Pot Transport in Oldbury yesterday to discuss future plans for the region’s roads, after it was revealed transport group Midlands Connect is considering building a new 40-mile motorway around the Black Country.
The ‘Western Strategic Route’ would connect the M5 Junction 4a at Bromsgrove with Junction 2 of the M54, near the i54 business park.
It’s an idea that has been met with controversy by many – especially environmental groups who claim the motorway would plough straight through greenbelt countryside.
But director of Midlands Connect Maria Machancoses said issues concerning the region’s roads cannot be ignored for much longer.
Ms Machancoses said: “One third of the national freight goes through the Midlands so we need to look at this in a much more balanced, comprehensive way.
“We need to do far more work, more analysis, and look at wider economic benefits and environment benefits. These things are really important and we really do understand the opportunities and also the challenges that they might bring to the region.
“But we’ve got to do the work, we cannot just ignore things. We need to look at long term.
“What we’re hoping to do is give certainty to everyone in the Midlands. We need to make sure that we look at a wide range of issues. This is all about giving a clear message, a clear vision to the world out there that we can no longer use a sticky plaster approach to resolving the problems of our motorways and congestion.”
The report released by Midlands Connect says the route would offer ‘the biggest benefit’ for improving journey times and supporting economic growth, and could reduce traffic on stretches of the M6 and M5 by one fifth.
Chief executive of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce Corin Crane agreed something ‘ambitious’ needed to be done to solve some of the congestion problems the region was facing. He said: “Look at the Black Country – we are 36,000 businesses crammed into a small area. We move stuff and we make stuff.” We’ve got twice the national average of manufacturing companies, huge amounts of food and drink companies and we have to get our stuff to ports and to businesses all across the area – and that’s what makes the Midlands so incredible. We’re right smack middle of the country.
Julian Pottinger, director of Little Pot Transport said he thought the Western Strageic Route was a ‘good idea’ and said it would provide relief for the Black Country. He said: “The problem is with congestion is that road repairs are necessary, we have to fix everything. It’s the spin off from that - with our infrastructure in the Black Country we haven’t really got any alternatives.When one road becomes congested due to road works or congestion it just snarls up the rest of the region, there’s no real spare capacity.”
“We have to get the Midlands strategy right, and the roads right particularly, if we’re going to talk about productivity.”
The exact path of the motorway has not yet been finalised, but initial plans suggest it could pass near Codsall, Codsall Wood, Perton, Pattingham, Wombourne, Dudley, Stourbridge and Kidderminster.
