Transport Action Network calls for cancellation of the £15bn RIS2 Road Building Programme that includes the A1 in Northumberland.

This recent article in the New Civil Engineer cites a campaign by Transport Action Network for the cancellation of the RIS2 road-building programme, which would include the dualling of the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham.

In the document, the revised benefit/cost ratio (BCR) for the A1 scheme comes back at just 0.8, meaning for each £1 invested, a return of only 80p is expected. This gives the ‘upgrade’ a rating of ‘poor’ value for money. It also threatens areas of Ancient Woodlands.

Like many other organisations are now calling for, a national transport strategy needs to look at ALL modes of transport together, and investment into railways, active travel infrastructure and other forms of public transport often give a much better economic return, as well as actual reduction of emissions and road congestion.

As can be seen from the screenshot above, the A66 scheme would cost around £1.5bn with a BCR of 0.96, which means an ecomomic loss of approx £60,000,000; whilst the Portishead to Bristol rail scheme has a cost of £200m and a BCR of at least 2.0, meaning an economic gain of at least £200m above its cost.

Simple maths says that these investments are a bad idea.

The A1, taking the figure quoted above of £261.6m, and a BCR of 0.8 would mean an economic loss of £52,320,000 on this one scheme alone.

Road investment should be part of a wider national strategy, and schemes like the Northumberland Coast Loop (NCL) would likely have a much greater BCR (East Coast Main Line (ECML) schemes tend to have a BCR of approx 2.73).

Given that the A1 and the ECML/NCL routes are pretty much parallel routes between Newcastle and Berwick Upon Tweed, lets see them compared directly and what the economic returns would be?

I would like to call on our elected representatives such as local MP’s, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness and leader of Northumberland County Council Glen Sanderson to respond to this call for cancellation of the A1 scheme but to instead make significant investments into the ECML (and to investigate the potential of the Northumberland Coast Loop as an expansion of the soon to open Northumberland Line).