Roads to Nowhere

We’re calling for greener, cheaper alternatives to road-building…

We know that new roads don’t solve people’s transport problems. Instead, road-building generates even more traffic, damages the countryside, adds to climate change and makes cities, towns and villages less pleasant places to live for everyone.

Current road-building proposals:

Hundreds of miles of new roads, costing billions of pounds, are being planned across the country by central government, local councils and new bodies like ‘Local Enterprise Partnerships’ who – wrongly – believe that a bypass or ring road in their town is the answer to high levels of traffic.

We’re monitoring these new road plans and keeping in touch with local campaigns to stop them. Explore our interactive map to see if any of the proposals are in your area, and find out if you can help:

See our map of current road proposals

The worst roads with the most urgent campaigns against them also have their own pages in the menu on the left, under 'Current campaigns'.

Policy work:

Instead of focusing on building our way out of congestion, a 'corridor planning' approach, taking account of all the short-distance journeys that add to traffic hot-spots - not just long-distance trips across the country - means a wide range of cheaper, better ways of cutting congestion can be employed, such as travel planning, smart tickets, better buses and support for walking and cycling trips.

And with less money to spend, the spiralling cost of road building makes even less sense when there are smarter alternatives like these.

Read the pages below to find out more about why new roads are not the best way to solve our transport problems.

New roads create new traffic

Bypasses don't work

Corridor planning

Toll roads are not the answer

Recent reports:

going backwards report cover

Going backwards: the new roads programme
November 2012

We reveal the true extent of road building plans across the country, finding nearly 200 schemes in national and local government plans, covering 1244 km (772 miles) of new roads and costing more than £30 billion.

Download the report

private roads report cover

Problems with private roads
August 2012

We warn about the risks of trying to privatise the road network, whether through new toll roads, PFI-style schemes or creating a privatised Highways Agency. We show that none of these proposals can provide value for both private investors and taxpayers.

Download the report

Smarter Spending report cover

Smarter Spending to boost the economy
November 2011

This report looks at how transport spending can help stimulate the economy. It warns against large scale spending on new roads and advocates cheaper transport initiatives which would provide more benefits more quickly, including public transport schemes.

Download the report