The British government has given the go-ahead for work to start on the country’s first privately financed expressway.
The road north of Birmingham, which will be the country’s first to charge a toll, is expected to cost $600 million and will be privately financed under a 53-year concession agreement with Midland Expressway Ltd.
In a July review of Britain’s road program, Transport Minister Gavin Strang approved two other plans costing $860 million. He ordered two plans valued at $340 million to be scrapped and said five more road projects totaling $800 million would be reviewed.
“Our overall approach is to look at the transport problems which lie behind proposals for road schemes and then seek solutions which are environmentally sustainable,” Strang said.
Among the plans to be reviewed is a $138 million project to widen part of Europe’s busiest freeway, the M25 London orbital road. The previous government had intended to widen five miles of the M25 running past Heathrow Airport to six lanes in each direction from four.
Among the plans scrapped was a bypass for the western England city of Salisbury, which had attracted widespread opposition from environmentalists because of the destruction it would cause to the countryside.
“We intend to bring a fresh approach to the process of making decisions on the roads program. We’ll take a strategic view and judge proposals on the criteria of accessibility, safety, economy, the environment and integration,” Strang said.
