This isn't central London and it's not HS2. Apart from a few farmers and land owners who might get a bit of their land compusorily purchased, there won't be much "impact". Some of the land owners are amenable to the idea, anyway - I know a couple and they're happy to sell.

It's going to take another 2 or so years on top of the 6 to work out if the council can even get the funding. It simply shouldn't take as long as it's going to.

I should point out that this is the third attempt to build this road. It was needed 15-20 years ago but the council nixed it at the first sign of a hurdle.

Whether it's a major railway line, another runway, a nuclear power station or an uncontroversial road bypass, it all seems to take the same amount of time as the government seems unwilling to commit to anything. Until it really becomes a huge problem (and even then they take their time to fix it). The British way.


The A30 still hasn't been fully upgraded and those upgrades it has had, have taken years to come to fruition. Some of those upgrades have had to be significantly cheapened in order to get it through - like the ongoing Bodmin Moor dualling. We are well behind other parts of the country when it comes to infrastructure of all kinds.

That's why the A30 is still a notorious bottleneck. It may not be Goss Moor that's a temporary car park anymore, but Bodmin Moor still is (until next year), and the Chiverton to Carland Cross stretch will be for the near future as it percolates through the Highways Agency's processes.

The government appears to have the same utterly flawed understanding of the road and region as you appear to (you seem to refuse to acknowledge that the road is actually busy in winter, too - and it only takes one tractor or slow moving vehicle on a non-dualled stretch to mess it all up).

Not as far as I know. The plans aren't even at the stage where a route has been committed to. There are two proposed routes, one of which has been slightly changed. Neither route goes through a built up area (remember, it's being built to avoid those) nor an area that is likely to be built on any time soon

& thats the key reason why the car is still king ,it represents INDIPENDANCE & CONVINENCE which is good when not reilying on timetables ,connection times & stop starts. the only thing car & bus have in common ,is there own traffic issues,trains don't have train traffic jams ,just constant strikes & concerns whos pockets there using for profit .certainly not a better service ,lets line are pockets first before we improve the rail network,after all we are private companys & only have 10 years to run the contracts

The Toll road is only good for those wanting to continue towards the M1

The pinch point is still there for those wanting to go from the M6 to the M5

There have been proposals for a western orbital route but residents to the west of the Black Country have always objected enough for it to be abandoned.

why is that area called the black country? i am asuming if not wrong ,black people live there? & they don't want a motorway going through there back yard ,even though they might be road users them selfs? some years ago i heard about issues raised on an A road linking northwales gateway 494 aston hill it was to be made into a super highway? which was regected by aston hill residence due extra noice worries i beleave ? which has now left a road scare at the dee river end where a bridge was due to be built & now a stupid kink in the road? sounds like waisted money now?

But even by Midland Expressway's own biased figures, that's still a daily average of 30% of through traffic that could be taken off that section of the M6.


Please tell me you're not being serious?

Busy in Winter too? It's not busy in summer outside a few weekends; I spend three weeks in June in Cornwall, keep off the A30 at weekends and have yet to see a traffic queue on it.

Even tractors now often go at 30 mph - they're far less of a holdup than they used to be, just as well as there's plenty of busier roads that actually go to other counties that are single carriageway too.

it's no good going on about London, we've not had a decent road upgrade in over 20 years in London.

i was asuming so ,i guess i was wrong? i have never been there ,just past through on the M5 heading south or north.