The Mayor and Transport for London have recently announced plans for a number of new road schemes, including river crossings at Silvertown and Gallions Reach and a 22 mile orbital tunnel which would take traffic under the capital.
London Assembly member Darren Johnson says the Mayor’s focus on more roads risks sending the city “back to a 1970s vision of a car-dominated future”.
In a report published today, he says the £28bn cost of the projects could be better spent extending the London Overground from Barking to Abbey Wood, building new river crossings “that encourage cycling and walking” and building the proposed Crossrail 2 service.
Assembly member Johnson commented: “Tunnelling, bridging, lane-widening and road-building will devour London’s transport budget.
“Building more roads to ease congestion simply does not work as new roads attract new vehicles, just creating more traffic and more pollution.”
He added: “This city desperately needs clean, efficient ways of getting around such as new rail links, trams schemes, better bus services and proper cycle routes. This is what we need to be investing in, not more roads.”
Critics say plans for new roads undermine efforts to improve London’s poor air quality.
Friends of the Earth London Campaigner, Jenny Bates, said: “With three to four thousand Londoners dying prematurely every year due to our dirty air the last thing the Mayor should be doing is adding to the problem by generating more traffic from new road crossings.”
