Truck menace will be tackled, say Kent county transport chiefs
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by political editor Paul Francis
County transport chiefs are promising action to ease the plight
of villages and towns plagued by the increasing number of lorries
travelling through Kent.
KCC is to tackle the growing problems of congestion and hold-ups
caused by HGVs with a wide-ranging overhaul of its lorry route map,
which directs lorries on to the most appropriate roads.
Transport bosses are to examine around 1,000 traffic restriction
orders to see if they are effective. More could be introduced where
problems are identified.
These limit where lorries go through width and height
restrictions.
KCC hopes its review will also help minimise incidents in which
foreign lorry drivers are misdirected by satellite navigation
systems down narrow lanes.
A dramatic rise in the number of businesses operating out of
rural industrial units and farm buildings over recent years has
worsened the problems caused by lorries using country roads.
An estimated 8,700 freight lorries travel through Kent each
day.
Cllr Nick Chard, cabinet member for highways, said: "Lorries can
cause tremendous problems for residents and businesses when they
use the wrong road and get stuck.
"They also rumble through our small villages day in, day out, in
some cases causing damage to property.
"Of course, businesses have to use our roads as part of their
normal operations, but at the moment we do not have a full picture
of the best routes for them.
"We want to
put lorries on the best available routes for them. We will look at
where HGVs want and need to travel and map out routes that will
minimise disruption to residents and other businesses."
KCC also says it wants more say on planning applications for
industrial units that might increase lorry traffic.
Last year nearly 3.2 million freight lorries passed through the
ports of Dover and Ramsgate and the Channel Tunnel.
Dover, meanwhile, expects to see an increase of around 50 per
cent in the number of HGVs using the port over the next two
decades.
KCC's review will be completed in about a year.
Tuesday, September 07 2010
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