Some expansion of the road network would be needed if road-user charging was to work in future, according to Professor Stephen Glasier, director of the RAC Foundation.
He told the transport select committee that if congestion was considered bad enough for road-user charging, then extra capacity should be considered in that area. He did not agree that building new roads would lead to increased traffic.
‘Road pricing is practically and economically impossible, unless we consider some expansion of the road network – and also of the public transport network as part of the package,’ he said. ‘If we introduce charging, we should use some of the money to relieve congestion by expanding the road network.’
He added that we were ‘damaging ourselves as a nation’ by not facing up to opportunities to reap the benefits in reduced congestion.
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