Better Transport

18 January: We've unearthed loads of reports by the Highways Agency which prove road building is poor value for money and doesn't solve people's transport problems.

We often hear from road builders that the case for road building is rock solid. But a number of reports, commissioned by the Highways Agency, show that people who build roads cannot predict what will happen once the tarmac is poured.

We've taken the four most recent 'post-opening project evaluation' reports, where the Highways Agency has looked at a road which they built five years ago, to compare their forecasts to what actually occurred. They show that the Agency underestimated the negative impacts – such as the volume of traffic, or CO2 emissions – and over-estimated the positive impacts.

In many cases, rather than solving the problem, the bypasses we looked at just moved traffic from once place to another. So while one community had fewer vehicles travelling through it (although still had more traffic than was predicted) another one a few miles away was faced with gridlock.

Times are tough, and the Department for Transport has warned councils that big cuts will have to be made. Our report shows that road building is a costly gamble, and in this economic climate, one we can't afford to make.