Beyond transport infrastructure: lessons for the future from recent road projects

This report examined the effects of road schemes on traffic growth, landscape and development pressure.

It looked at the appraisal process before a road is built and the evaluation process afterwards. There are three detailed case studies: the Newbury Bypass, M65 Blackburn Southern Bypass and Polegate Bypass. The study showed traffic growth far in excess of official predictions and unsustainable car-based development. It highlighted the failure of the appraisal process to capture these important real-life consequences of road-building.

The work was commissioned by the Countryside Agency and CPRE and the project team was Transport and Environment consultancy, Transport for Quality of Life, and John Elliott Consultancy (2006).

A short follow-up to the main report analysed the Highways Agency’s 5-year-after Post Project Evaluation of the Newbury Bypass which was released subsequent to completion of the main report (2006).