Solutions needed for congestion (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Solutions needed for congestion

8:32am Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Our View By Telegraph & Argus

The fact that Bradford once again features highly on a survey of the most congested places in the UK will come as no great surprise to those drivers who have to commute to and from work during the rush hour every working day.

The city was named the third worst place in the country for traffic congestion – with the average speed commuters crawl along at said to be just 14.2mph, which is even slower than London.

The bad news is there seems to be no sign of any imminent action to help solve the problem. But the really bad news is the tens of thousands of additional cars we are likely to see on the district’s roads if the Council continues to accept that 45,000 new houses need to be built over the next 15 years or so.

Bradford Council’s recently published Core Strategy, and subsequent comments from senior councillors, seem to suggest that is still very much the case.

And although that strategy also outlines some improvements to roads and public transport infrastructure, it is nowhere near enough.

If – and it is a very big if – the demand can be proven for this housing, then surely the Council should be working on a massive overhaul of the road network into Bradford, which simply can’t cope with traffic as it is.

Coun David Heseltine’s comments in this paper that the gridlock that will follow the construction of these homes will result in damage to the economy is difficult to argue with. Solutions are needed now to help our roads cope with the existing volume of traffic.

The idea of a massive influx of housing, bringing in thousands and thousands more commuters to the outskirts of the city, without significantly improving the infrastructure of the road network, is surely unthinkable.