FTA: Widening M6 is 'vital'
Date: 09 July 2007
The government should hurry up with its proposals to widen the M6 motorway in Staffordshire and Cheshire, according to a leading haulage group.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA), which represents the interests of freight forwarders in the UK, says that the government should move ahead with plans to improve the road between junction 11a in Staffordshire and 19 in Cheshire.
At the moment couriers and haulage drivers face regular congestion on the section, and this could end up "in total gridlock" if something isn't done, the FTA said.
The group's head of policy for the Midlands, Wales and the south-west, Stephen Kelly, lamented the fact that several studies and proposals had been put forward, but that nothing had so far been finalised.
"It is an indisputable fact that widening this stretch of the M6 is vital not only for the economies of the West Midlands and north-west, but also the national economy due to the inextricable link between economic growth and transport," he said.
"UK plc is currently being restrained by the inadequate and antiquated transport system that we have in place."
He noted that the Eddington report had put forward the notion that national infrastructure projects needed to be approved more quickly.
"We can no longer afford not to widen the M6 - if we continue to delay this vital scheme, nobody will be going anywhere along the M6 corridor."
Earlier this week (July 2nd) the M6 was closed between junctions 31 and 32 because of a chemical fire in Lancashire, causing problems for freight forwarders.
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