Local councils could soon charge utility companies up to £2500 a day for digging up busy roads at peak traffic hours.
Lane rental schemes, which have been trialled in Kent and London, will be rolled out across the country, giving local governments the power to charge companies for digging up roads, in an effort to cut congestion.
The scheme encourages collaboration between companies to reduce the number of individual roadworks. Recorded collaborations in London increased six-fold after lane rental was introduced in London in 2015.
Under the lane rental schemes, companies will be penalised for digging up roads during peak times, with incentives offered for choosing quieter roads and disrupting traffic only outside of peak hours.
Although the first lane rental schemes outside of the trials are as far off as late 2019, the Department for Transport will be assisting local governments in implementing them.
The DfT claims that 2.5 million roadworks take place every year on UK roads, at a cost to the economy of £4 billion.
Nicholas Lyes, the RAC’s head of roads policy, said: “Trials showed that some of the worst congestion caused by planned utility works in London was reduced by half on roads where lane rental was in operation, so rolling this out will extend the benefits nationwide.
“RAC research suggests congestion on our roads and journey time reliability are growing concerns for motorists so introducing lane rental should encourage better planning and coordination of roadworks, and mean utility works are completed in a swifter, more efficient manner.”
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Is anyone aware what a
Is anyone aware what a properly maintained road looks like? I’m guessing not, but if you really want to know, go to Germany, France, Spain etc, the roads a pretty dam amazing, billiard table smooth, well drained and clean. Uk roads are absolutely appalling, the slightest rain and there’s standing water everywhere, potholes everywhere, the actual road structures are breaking up, the roads are covered in debris etc, etc.
this idea is not likely to do anything other than add cost to the bills of the utilities. Instead, how about making the these companies work 24/7 to get the work done and making sure the work is to a very high standard so it last for many years, rather than the very poor standard that fails, sometimes within weeks and the main reason why our roads are so bad. They should be inspected when work has finished and if it’s not good enough, charge them to pay to do it properly, and re-inspect it 12 months and if there are any defects, send them the bill, their work should not be the cause of the road surface deteriorating.
Hmmmmm
Judging by the state of the Roads I travel on there is plenty of Work even after this Winter, it’s the little pot holes, they are like Acne on the Roads, big ones and little some could cause serious accidents, if the Public don’t report them they can’t expect the Road department to fix them as soon as.
Even when you do notify them
The state of our roads is an utter disgrace: The number of pot-holes and frequency of repairs, with us all having to crawl through roadworks, with all the snarled up, time sapping, emissions producing stupidity that ensues, is costing the country a fortune.
All very well
but you know who'll be footing the bill for the penalties handed out.