BRITAIN’S only pay-per-drive motorway has failed to provide a solution to the traffic congestion which clogs the West Midlands on a daily basis, a new report has suggested.
The study, by the Campaign for Better Transport, said the M6 Toll had failed to alleviate traffic levels on the existing M6, prompting the Government to invest millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money increasing capacity on the existing motorway.
The £900m toll motorway, which was designed to relieve congestion on the M6 through Birmingham, will have been open for is seven years in December. Since that time, traffic levels on the road have failed to live up to expectations.
CBT said the route was currently losing operator Midland Expressway Ltd around £25m a year. The latest figures show that the 27-mile route, which runs between Coleshill and Cannock, was used by an average of 41,195 vehicles a day between April and June this year – ironically a 4.1% increase on the same period last year.
MEL, which is owned by Australian investment bank Macquarie, has a 53-year lease to operate the road.
CBT has used evidence contained within the report to claim that privately-funded solutions to congestion will not work and the Government should focus efforts on improving the existing infrastructure.
It is thought many drivers, wary of escalating travel costs, have been unwilling to pay the £5 toll to use the route, preferring to use the free option of the M6.
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