If there's a reduction of emissions in the M6 section I wonder will it be down to more people using the M6 toll. The cynic in me thinks that's exactly what they want. More income.
Doing this for only one section between two junctions will likely catch more speeders. I cant remember if that section of the M6 is in a variable speed limit area but it wouldn't surprise me.
The days of getting around our country reasonably quickly feel like they are long gone.
Interesting little factoid about the m6 toll is that its not government controlled. Its run by a private company with government oversight. Its actually quite an interesting read of how botched a road it is and the way its run. The government allowed a lot of shady stuff to happen so it could be built. Only a small part of the tolls goes to the government, most goes to a company set up to run it.
Another fun fact about it is its not actually a shorter trip that taking the normal m6. When it was built the long lead up to the tolls was built long on purpose and is technically not counted as the m6 toll road proper so the road appears shorter on maps and satnavs than it actually is along with a few other tricks. This was done to increase traffic to the road so tolls revenue can be increased. It didnt go over as planned though and revenue goals were not reached. Various other tricks were employed to get people on to it with varying rates of success. Every see a few road cones on the side on the m6 just randomly out there? Thats to show as construction in the area and suggest the toll road as an alternate path.
It was also one of, if not the first road built with speed cameras already planned in. Originally by law speed cameras were only allowed to be installed in areas with a history of traffic incidents. Despite wide spread belief that they can be put up anywhere the process to get approval to install them was quite lengthy. They truely were an attempt at one point to reduce speeds and increase safety. The m6 toll changed that by having the cameras preplanned on sections that were likely see increased speeds due to layout, not by a proven and documented history of incidents. A lot of arguements were made that several sections were built to encourage speeding so they could be more lucrative in revenue.
The only time the toll road could be considered a viable route is during peak travel times in the morning and in the evening but thats only if there is substantial delays. In just about every other way its not the best option.
I learned more about government misuse working on that toll project than i have anywhere else really. Its quite shocking how a few council members can wield so much power when they have a stake in private projects. You would think conflict of interest would come up more often. I have had brushes with the HS2 project though and that one seems to be on a whole other scale but i dont have enough direct involvement to really dig into it.