Dartford Crossing barriers could be lifted in worst congestion

Cllr Clarence Barrett wrote:

It was recently announced that the Highways Agency are willing to consider raising the barriers at the Dartford Crossing during busy times to ease severe traffic delays.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Mike Penning, said the Agency is willing to consider the possibility of lifting the barriers when congestion is particularly severe. Quite when congestion is deemed to be severe (which is most of the time!) or not is a moot point and would, of course, impact upon the thousands of motorists of whom some would pay a ‘toll’ and some would not.

This is a somewhat different approach from the previous government who, in response to my 10,000 petition to scrap the toll in 2009, insisted that the toll barriers were needed to manage congestion!

The fact remains that the cost of the crossing was paid off in 2002 and since that time the ‘toll’ has been reclassified as a ‘congestion charge’ and increased from £1 to £1.50. It is indeed bizarre that it is the collection of the ‘congestion charge’ that is the principal cause of the congestion!

In a move designed to hang on to the £50m of net receipts from the crossing, the Government are also looking at licence plate recognition technology (similar to the London Congestion Charge) for the collection of the ‘toll’. While any measure to relieve the congestion, pollution and delays at the crossing are worthy of consideration, the ultimate aim must be to scrap the ‘tolls’ entirely and allow traffic to move freely through the crossing.

12 Aug 2010 8:27 PM

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Delmar wrote:

Friday 6th August......
An incident on the South bound carriage way at midday....tremendous queues on the North bound still at 7.00 pm.

3 3/4 hours to get through.

Kindly allowed waves of traffic to go through free...ought to have been giving us £20 notes!

Something or someone needs sorting urgently.

08 Aug 2010 9:07 PM

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Jock wrote:

There will always be some form of congestion when using the Kent to Essex crossing. Even with the barriers lifted speed controls would have be put into place. It would be carnage otherwise as motorists doing 70mph plus have to filter into their lanes, past the booths and then into the 4 lanes for both tunnels.

They should be developing the Dart Tag so it automatically charges your account as you use the crossing, without the need for a barrier. It works in Australia, why cant it work here ?

I'm all for keeping the toll too. As long as the money raised is used to maintain the crossing, and to also to fund another new Thames crossing to alleviate the congestion problems.

27 Jul 2010 12:45 PM

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Jon wrote:

This is not an act of generosity by the operators, it is an act of pragmatic self-interest. The queues at the crossing are outrageous and not just at rush-hour time, either. The lifting of the toll gates at times of severe congestion (however they define that) is intended to stave off calls for removal of the tolls altogether. Remember, the removal of the tolls, which cause the congestion, is something that should have happened years ago. The fact that it didn't is yet another corporate rip-off.

27 Jul 2010 11:49 AM

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P.C. wrote:

This can only be a good thing, because there is congestion there most of the time and a good proportion of that is severe.

27 Jul 2010 10:14 AM

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Jo wrote:

here's an idea, why not just take the barriers away then the congestion would not exist in the 1st place!

27 Jul 2010 9:59 AM

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