Hi Devonish,

I know most of the people involved in making decisions don't live in London and travel to their offices by train and bicycle.

Capital cost has always been a problem with big road infrastructure projects and whilst a bypass in a provincial town may cost a few million, a road tunnel in London with the required exits and entrances would cost billions. Since the mid-1990s, it has been politically challenging to do anything that is even seen to encourage car usage.

Elevated roads are a lot cheaper than tunnels, but the controversy over the Westway has put paid to anything like that around here and to be frank, I doubt we'd want that anyway.

With the capital cost being so high, revenue has been an issue. Whilst we may be able to borrow cheaply as a nation at the moment, the fact is that train passengers pay (heavily subsidised) fares and road users don't. There are long discussions about a "crossing" at Silvertown, but the building of this is likely to be funded by a toll at Blackwall which will likely put paid to the whole idea.

That said, with Vehicle Excise Duty about to be hypothecated for road maintenance and building again, it is possible that more initiative may be shown for big road infrastructure projects.