Letter: Tunnelling is the Answer to Guildford’s Traffic Issues

Published on: 24 Feb, 2022
Updated on: 24 Feb, 2022

From: Bibhas Neogi

In response to: Those That Choose to Drive Should Pay Their Fair Share

Anthony Mallard is spot on. Drivers and businesses operating deliveries already pay a lot more through various taxation.

If the whole network were to run as a fair business, motorists would pay a lot less and the government would have to raise other taxes to compensate for the revenue that now goes to the Treasury from transport-related taxation.

Everyone uses the road network either directly or indirectly. I know Trevor Jones personally and he totally relies on public transport. But we all do not live within ten minutes of walking distance from a train station or a bus stop.

Over the past 50 years or so, locations of shops have changed from a number of high street or corner shops to out of town supermarkets. Semi-rural areas have a very limited number of shops and therefore people generally shop for a week’s supply in supermarkets and use cars to transport them.

Developers have built more housing on cheaper out of town sites and people have bought them knowing well that they have to rely on their cars for many of their journeys, especially where bus service is poor or non-existent.

The whole aspect of transportation, housing and social services is a complex issue and therefore there is no simple solution. Piecemeal developments should be avoided and a holistic approach should be used to plan developments.

Large scale developments should be as self-contained as much as possible thus reducing the need for people to travel outside the developments. Bus services paid out of communal taxes could be part of the solution.

That Guildford could be like Freiburg, Cambridge or Bristol is unrealistic thinking. Guildford is a gap town – many roads go through it and the road network around it is generally narrow and not so extensive. The terrain is hilly and therefore bypasses or ring roads would be difficult to design and environmental considerations are complicated.

Tunnelling is the answer if physical and environmental constraints are to be overcome but tunnels are expensive compared with surface roads. However, tunnels in a limited number of places and lowering roads into underground routes without tunnelling could reduce town centre congestion.

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