Traffic tolls dodgers rat-run warning

City transport chiefs admit the volume of traffic in residential streets and main routes will rise by as much as 555 per cent with motorists evading the 2 toll by choosing routes to avoid the planned toll-cordon cameras.

Critics today branded the forecast increases a "farce" and renewed their call for the controversial congestion charging scheme to be abandoned.

More than 60 streets are expected to suffer some form of increase in traffic volumes as a direct result of the introduction of road tolls by 2006, according to a report by experts to Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE), the council-owned arms-length company charged with introducing the road tolls.

Leith Walk, Canonmills, Inverleith and the Botanic Gardens, Dalry-Blackhall, Corstorphine, Marchmont, Morningside, Queen’s Drive, Duddingston and the B701 orbital route have all been highlighted as rat-run hotspots.

Now Edinburgh City Council is to introduce measures such as speed-bumps, restricted turns and one-way systems in a bid to stop so-called "rat-runners" flooding residential streets.

The moves are expected to limit the increase in traffic levels on many streets - but will raise further the number of motorists travelling along other streets.

The tolls are being brought in by the council’s Labour administration which has warned traffic levels are expected to increase in Edinburgh by 20 per cent between 2001 and 2021.

Today, Lib Dem transport spokesman Fred Mackintosh said: "It is ridiculous that they have put the cordons in places which will actually make traffic levels worse. The scheme has been badly thought out and they are going to be forced to move the inner cordon.

"The situation will be serious in areas such as Marchmont and Murrayfield and the residents will be very cross and understandably so."

He said he would bring the matter to the attention of the ongoing public inquiry into road tolls when he gives evidence next month.

The report, prepared by the Edinburgh-based Halcrow Group for TIE, predicts Annandale Street in Broughton will see a rise of more than 550 per cent in traffic levels as a result of the road tolls.

Bellevue Place and Green Street, both in Broughton, will suffer increases of almost 300 per cent, while traffic levels will rise in Inverleith Terrace, near the Royal Botanic Garden, by nearly 200 per cent.

But the volume of traffic in Green Street is predicted to rise further - from 276 per cent to 285 per cent - once traffic-calming measures are introduced.

Residents in Redford Road in Colinton will see a 216 per cent increase in traffic, Oxgangs Road a 60 per cent hike and Frogston Road West in Fairmilehead a 53 per cent rise.

Even main routes outside the cordons will see rises in traffic. The A8 will suffer an increase of around five per cent, the A90 seven per cent and the A7 nine per cent.

Councillor Allan Jackson, the city’s Tory transport spokesman, said: "This is something we have said from day one when the Labour group first announced they were to push ahead with a road tolls cordon in central Edinburgh.

"Why would anyone go through the cordon and pay 2 when they can go around it?

"In Trinity, which is my ward, all the residents know how busy Ferry Road would become. The Labour group are the only people in Edinburgh who want this scheme to go ahead. It’s an absolute farce.

"It would create a relatively quiet city centre with horrendously busy surrounding areas. I think a three-year-old could have worked that out."

Neil Renilson, chief executive of Lothian Buses, urged city chiefs to carry out a consultation with the bus company on the plans.

He said: "It is essential that we are fully consulted about this and its impact on services."

Leading motoring groups today said the predicted increase in traffic was unacceptable.

A spokesman for the AA said: "This is not surprising. People will always try to find a way round such charges. In our evidence to the public inquiry we said that congestion charging schemes around the world have all created a ring road where people pay. This is something Edinburgh City Council have just now explored.

"We think that the council will have to take this on board. For people to experience 500 per cent increases in traffic on their street is not acceptable. There are issues of noise, emissions and safety to consider. But the main reason behind it would be the lack of a ring road."

A spokeswoman for the RAC said: "It’s completely unacceptable that these streets will become so congested. The council will have to ensure that the cameras cover all these streets so they do not become rat runs. That is imperative."

And a transport industry insider warned: "There is a real danger that services such as buses will suffer as a result of these traffic calming measures."

In the TIE report, Halcrow said: "One of the consequences of the proposed charging scheme will be that during the times that the charging scheme is in operation, some drivers may choose to divert around the charging cordons, rather than paying the charge, even where these journeys are far more circuitous. The most direct route across the city is to cut across the circle. This route would incur a charge.

"In contrast, more circuitous routes around the circumference of the circle would be charge-free. Without any new measures, it is expected that these orbital routes would experience an increase in traffic levels as people divert around the congestion-charging cordon."

The report added: "The strategy is to reduce the attractiveness of orbital routes or residential roads. It is proposed to do this by using traffic management techniques such as traffic calming to match the level of service provided by routes potentially subject to traffic increases to the appropriate levels of usage given their traffic capacity, environmental sensitivity and frontage characteristics."

The report labelled a five per cent increase in traffic "small" while larger rises such as 30 per cent plus had air and noise pollution impacts.

A TIE spokeswoman admitted traffic would increase in some streets.

But she was unable to say how much the new traffic-calming measures would cost.

She said: "As outlined in the statement of case, it is recognised that at some locations there will be localised increases in traffic resulting from traffic diverting around the charging cordons, but these are relatively small compared to the wider benefits. Measures will be taken to mitigate against any adverse impact that diverting traffic may have on these areas."

Councillor Andrew Burns, the city’s transport leader, insisted the city would benefit overall from congestion charging.

"I recognise that few will positively want to pay the 2 charge or have more traffic on their street and that it will be more onerous on some, although we should remember that some 40 per cent of households within the city have no access to a car.

"This is a statutory, public scheme being implemented by an elected local authority, Edinburgh City Council. I can think of few, if any, public schemes of this scale where everyone affected is a net beneficiary. In all public schemes of such a scale, a local authority will balance the benefits of the proposal against its costs, whether financial or otherwise.

"In the case of the Integrated Transport Initiative, Edinburgh City Council has done just that - fully considered the costs and benefits and reached a decision which they consider to be in the best, long-term interests of the wider community."

He added: "None of the opponents have come up with a long-term comprehensive solution."

Under the plans being put forward by the council, Edinburgh’s road tolls scheme will operate Monday to Friday, but not on bank holidays.

There will be two charging cordons, one around the city centre and another just inside the city bypass.

The inner cordon will operate from 7am to 6.30pm and the outer one from 7am to 10am. There would be one 2 charge per day, no matter how many times a vehicle crosses either cordon.