10th december 2002
A £5.5 billion package of major national and local transport measures was unveiled by Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling.

Alistair Darling said:
"Today's major package of transport improvements will bring real benefits. From the major motorways which are the nation's arteries to the local bus and cycle routes many of us rely on, we are seeing real progress being made - tackling congestion, improving safety and reliability and increasing the quality of life. We are committed to putting right decades of under-investment. Nationally, by improving
the strategic road network - widening parts of the M6 and M1 - and accelerating the work on the West Coast Main Line, we are transforming major transport corridors in the country to bring real benefits for decades to come.
"The World Heritage Site at Stonehenge will be enhanced and protected by putting the existing road in a bored tunnel.

Alistair Darling gave the go ahead to schemes below:

M6 Mr Darling has decided to approve the creation of a US-style eight-lane highway on parts of the M6 from Birmingham to Manchester;

M1 widening in the East Midlands generally to 4 lanes;

M4 and M5 provision of climbing lanes for HGVs and junction improvements on sections near Bristol;

A453 plans to improve from the M1 near Kegworth to Nottingham;

A419 junction improvements on the Commonhead junction near Swindon, Wiltshire;

A1 complete dualling between Morpeth and Alnwick;

A30 improving sections west of Exeter;

A303 dualling most of the remaining single carriageway; a 2.1 kilometre bored tunnel option for the upgrade of the A303 past Stonehenge facilitating the development of a new visitor centre;
Cost: £183m (excluding development & land costs)
Contract award - 2002
Publication of draft orders - Spring 2003
Public Inquiry - Autumn 2003
Work starts - 2005
Open to traffic - 2008
Construction time: Approx three years
Covers 10.8km (6.7miles) stretch of the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down,Wiltshire
Flyover at Countess East
Bypass for Winterbourne Stoke
Closure of A344
The new proposal is for a highly destructive short bored tunnel, which ICOMOS-UK, the National Trust, the Stonehenge Alliance and Save Stonehenge have all opposed. This confirms that the British government's interest is to increase the capacity of the A303 -- to speed more traffic past Stonehenge - and not to safeguard the World Heritage Site.

New Bypasses;
Reighton in North Yorkshire
Ashton in Tameside
A69 at Haydon Bridge in Northumberland
A228 at Leybourne in Kent;

Quotes;

"Britain isn't big enough for us to be pouring more and more concrete over its green and pleasant land". Alistair Darling

"We're committed to a build about 30 new schemes in the next 5 years, - from London to the South Midlands; - along the South Coast; - from London to Ipswich; - on the M25; and - through Yorkshire. - West Midlands - Hull and Tyneside.
decisions on these in the Spring. I shall also announce further investment in transport infrastructure at other locations in the course
of next year." Alistair Darling;

"Whatever government spin doctors may pretend, bulldozing four lanes of motorway
through a world heritage site will bring no
real benefit to Stonehenge." Chris Woodford, The Save Stonehenge campaign;

This is a binge of road building with virtually nothing safe from the bulldozer."
Stephen Joseph, Transport 2000 Director

"On the M25 when it went from three to four lanes, within one year traffic increased by one third, negating the benefits.
Professor David Begg (chair of the government's Commission for Integrated Transport)

"It is scandalous that a government that has been lecturing about traffic congestion, emissions and global warming should buckle under pressure from the roads lobby and shift its policy towards the environmentally-unfriendly car." Bob Crow, RMT;


links.........
 http://www.guilfin.net/reports/?id=rwINET1593
 http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/transport/news/prescott/evidence.html
 http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=25761.html
 http://www.cpre.org.uk/press/rel2002/55-02.htm
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2560987.stm

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