Queen Elizabeth

The Queen Elizabeth Bridge.

The other day I was driving south bound along the M25 so called motorway or to many at times (The M25 Car Park) to my destination in the heart of the so called garden of England, Maidstone in Kent when not for the first time the traffic came to a halt just before the Dartford River crossing bridge over the wonderful River Thames.

At first like most motorists before and after me being parked on the motorway I was looking at the great construction ahead of me The Queen Elizabeth 11 Bridge and I started thinking.

The bridge was designed by a German and built by the English Company maybe not with all English workers at a total cost around 150 million pounds way back in 1991 so I started to do the maths about number of cars etc, against the original building costs. Working out that around a 100 thousand vehicles must go over the bridge a day at an average cost of a pound per vehicle since 1991 that would be an income of around 36 and half million pounds a year.

Taking the original build costs of 150 million even at borrowings of 10% per year for the first 10 years would only come to around 500 million so after 20 years of toll fees the bridge is now well in credit/profit.

The reason for these thoughts about costing etc, are as follows. I think you will agree especially if like me you have been caught in a traffic Jam or sat on the M25 Car Park for a few hours on a hot summer’s day late for that meeting or just to get home for a BBQ etc.

On all major roads at sometime there will be a breakdown or an accident it’s just a fact of life. When all of a sudden the traffic stops in front of you or as the vehicles start queuing at busy times some 4 miles from the toll, it’s the paying at the toll booths that makes are delays even greater.

So my conclusion to the major problem is so simple when the traffic has stopped or queuing for long periods at Busy times why not just lift the toll barriers to enable the traffic to pass through far more quickly, Surely it can’t be that we are still paying for the bridge construction costs, it must be just greed of the owners.

With some knowledge and research do you think in Australia they all sit queuing at the Sydney Harbour Bridge or what it would be like if we had to pay to gain access into The City of London via Toll Booths. The London congestion charge system works, so why not use the system at the Dartford crossing.

Your thoughts and comments please don’t be shy.

Wayne.

Waynecollier.co.uk

wc@waynecollier.co.uk