The UK government is planning a gigantic new road project – a six-lane, 22-kilometre motorway with a tunnel under the river Thames near Gravesend, Kent – while, laughably, claiming to be acting on climate change.
The Lower Thames Crossing would be the UK’s largest road project since the M25 motorway ring around London was completed in 1986. Cost: an estimated £8.2 billion.
It is the largest project envisaged in part 2 of the government’s Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) that covers the period 2020-25.
The Kent Downs area of outstanding natural beauty would suffer a “large adverse” impact from the Lower Thames Crossing, according to National Highways. Photo from the Kent Downs site
And it would blast another hole in attempts to meet the UK’s own inadequate greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, let alone meaningful targets set by climate scientists.
Professors at odds over transport decarbonisation costs – Transport Xtra
Rhodri Clark reveals how a Welsh parliament committee session on how best to make the transition to electrification and decarbonisation sparked a difference of opinion between eminent transport professors
Two academics who advocate measures to reduce car use have expressed contrasting views over the costs of such actions.
Prof Graham Parkhurst, of the University of the West of England, told a Senedd committee hearing on bus and rail in Wales: “It’s going to be very expensive to deliver the decarbonisation of public transport, and the revenues from passengers will be a relatively small part of that
Prof John Whitelegg, visiting professor at Liverpool John Moores University, took issue with the form of words used by Parkhurst.
Roads Rebellion protest against Toyota’s dirty lobbying – Ecohustler
13th June 2022
Roads Rebellion protested at the flagship Toyota showroom in London today to demand Toyota stop its dirty lobbying and align with climate science at its annual shareholders meeting this week.
Protestors performed a ‘die-in’ to highlight our peril in the face of continued car manufacturing in a climate and ecological crisis.
Toyota is aggressively aiming to expand personal car ownership rates globally, spending over $1 Billion a year on advertising in the US alone. Meanwhile, climate scientists say we need to rapidly reduce emissions to zero if we want to maintain a climate safe for human habitation and a healthy biodiverse ecosystem.
DfT tool paves way for whole life carbon assessment of schemes – Net Zero – Transport Xtra
Mechanisms that enable a whole life carbon assessment of transport schemes have been developed by a special DfT- led two year project soon to issue advice to local authorities and other bodies.
The Strategic Digital Carbon Architecture (SDCA) programme, supported by the Treasury with funding as a special project in its shared outcomes fund, is led by Dr Tom Mclenachan, DfT’s senior policy advisor infrastructure net zero.
Greenwich council’s new leader set to challenge Silvertown Tunnel – transportxtra
Anthony Okereke narrowly beat the council’s current leader Danny Thorpe in a vote of the borough’s Labour councillors a week after the party were returned with a large majority in the local elections.
LTT asked Greenwich Council whether Anthony Orereke will press TfL to review its plans for the tunnel. A council spokesperson said: “The council elects its leader at its AGM on 25 May, and will be able to comment further after that time.”
Peak parking: The view from Snowdonia – Transport Xtra
Innovations and improved enforcement are helping Snowdonia National Park to cope with this summer’s influx of visitors. Words and pictures by Rhodri Clark
Transport planners and politicians often talk about using carrots and sticks to bring about modal shift, but rarely is that approach so clearly visible on the ground as it is now in Snowdonia National Park. Bus services to the most popular places have never been as frequent as this summer, while changes to parking controls have reduced the problems caused by illegally parked cars.
Traffic noise slows children’s memory development, study finds | Pollution | The Guardian
Damian Carrington
Road-traffic noise significantly slows the development of crucial memory and attention skills in primary school children, research has found.
The study of almost 2,700 children aged between seven and 10 in 38 schools in Barcelona, Spain, is the first to assess the impact of traffic noise on child cognitive development over time and to determine the impact of peaks in noise.
Hey, SUV monsters – get off our roads! – Sussex Bylines
Walk down a busy street in most urban areas, particularly the more affluent parts, and you may feel somewhat besieged. Indeed, in many public spaces people are being displaced by an occupying force that grows more numerous by the year. I’m talking not about US military bases or extra-terrestrial colonisers, but a homegrown menace: so-called Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs).
Over the past decade, these gargantuan monstrosities have greatly increased their market share of new car sales – of which most people are all too aware. Why? It’s hardly as if roads have suddenly become unnavigable in ordinary saloon cars, or that more people are going for picnics in peat bogs. Well, like many ostentatious consumer trends, it’s a triumph of aggressive marketing.
LTNs only part of solution to cutting car use, says think tank – Transport Xtra
Although Low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) benefit local streets, they are not enough on their own to cut reliance on private cars, states a new report by Centre for London. They also do little to cut traffic on main roads and, in some cases, cause more traffic outside the schemes, adds the think tank.
The report, Street Shift: The Future of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, looked at the roll-out of LTNs by London boroughs in recent years. It found that LTNs reduce car traffic, increase walking and cycling, and make roads safer for all users. But the report argues that LTNs should be introduced alongside complementary measures including promoting cycle training, new public transport options, and a denser network of bike and scooter hire and car clubs.
UN Warns of ‘Total Societal Collapse’ Due to Breaching of Planetary Boundaries – Byline Times
A landmark report by the United Nations concludes that ‘global collapse’ is becoming more likely. But was it watered-down before being published?
When the United Nations published its 2022 ‘Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction’ (GAR2022) in May, the world’s attention was on its grim verdict that the world was experiencing an accelerating trend of natural disasters and economic crises. But not a single media outlet picked up the biggest issue: the increasing probability of civilisational collapse.
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