NEW M74 REPORT CRITICISED AS 'SHORT-SIGHTED'TRANSform Scotland, the campaign for sustainable transport, has criticised Glasgow City Council for its failure to undertake a comprehensive multi-modal analysis of the transport alternatives to the controversial M74 Northern Extension.Commenting on a new report from local authorities which calls for spending on the proposed motorway through south east Glasgow to be increased from £177million to £307 million, TRANSform's Chair, David Spaven said: "It is scandalous that Glasgow City Council has ignored the call from Transport Minister Sarah Boyack to undertake a multi-modal analysis, and is instead pressing on with the short-sighted plan to bulldoze a motorway on stilts into the heart of Glasgow. As experience with the M25 round London has demonstrated, this road would simply generate yet more traffic to spill on to residential and shopping streets, and would do nothing to solve long-term congestion." "There are plenty of alternatives to the M74 Northern Extension which would be cheaper and cause far less damage. Congestion on the Kingston Bridge is largely caused by single-occupant commuter cars - a priority lane for buses, and for lorries carrying Scottish exports, would make much better use of existing road space than the current free-for-all. There is a crying need for a cross-Glasgow rail service to provide direct links from Renfrewshire and Ayrshire to Lanarkshire and the east of Scotland." "At a time when great world cities like Boston and San Francisco have been demolishing urban motorways and replacing them with modern tram and bus priority schemes, why is Glasgow still obsessed with a 1960s prescription for a 21st century transport problem ?" ENDS Notes to Editors: (1) TRANSform Scotland is the national sustainable transport campaign, bringing together 67 organisations - including transport operators, local authorities, national environment and conservation groups, chambers of commerce and local transport groups - interested in transport, the environment and a sustainable Scotland. We can be contacted at 72 Newhaven Road, Edinburgh, EH6 5QG. Tel.: 0131-467-7714; Fax: 0131-554-8656; E-mail: campaigns@transformscotland.org.uk; web: http://www.transformscotland.org.uk END OF NEWS RELEASE
|