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The reported named 'Roads and Reality' concludes that new road capacity will be essential whether or not national road pricing is introduced, and dispels many myths about road transport which have distorted the policy debate.
The report demonstrates that road users are the only energy users currently paying the full cost of their carbon emissions; and that cars will continue to get greener and cleaner towards 2050.
The research shows that growth in population, numbers of households and incomes will drive rising demand for travel. The report concludes that by 2041, car ownership will be 44 per cent higher, while car traffic will increase by 37 per cent.
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The results have been developed alongside the conclusions outlined in the Eddington Report published in December 2006 and the horizon of 2041 has been used because major investment and behavioural change in transport take a long time.
One of the report's authors, Professor Stephen Glaister of Imperial College, said: The Government cannot use the possible future introduction of road pricing as a reason to ignore the need to improve the strategic road network. If national road pricing has been put on the back-burner, more urgency is required for intelligent investment decisions now to keep the county moving in the future."
The analysis shows that, with or without road pricing, Britain needs investment in roads at an annual rate of about 600 Lane Kilometres - around the average level of road building achieved in the 1990s. The research argues that the best balance of economic benefit is secured if road building is combined with efficient pricing, because mobility would be enhanced while congestion would be reduced. It would also be fairer: the extra capacity would reduce the price to road users, and travel by car would be affordable for more people on low incomes.
(GK/JM)
