Yesterday I was looking across Morecambe Bay from Heysham towards Barrow and thinking about the debate over whether we should have a bridge. It is around 55 miles to get from Heysham to Barrow by road and if you take the direct route it is around 15 miles. If you drive across a bridge you could save at least 40 minutes by driving at national speed limits. If you know the area then savings could easily be an hour on each trip. It is easy to see the benefits to the transport system.
There are also benefits to the local economies. Businesses locate where it is efficient to locate and I am sure that if I had a business that relied on the transport system then I would be based near a motorway, not in the Morecambe peninsula. Another benefit, if you believe that renewable energy is the way forward, is that this bridge would be the place to build wind turbines.
There are usually many different views on any subject and the Morecambe Bay bridge is no exception. What would be the environmental impact? I have walked across the Bay and the wildlife that I saw was on the coast living next to man's environment. There may be an adverse effect but I am also aware that wildlife adapts. In fact there may be environmental benefits because of renewable energy. Less serious objections are that better transport systems aid criminals, and isolation is good (it is good if you do not wish to participate with the rest of society).
I remember from my physics A level that a system is only as good as its weakest link and that brings me to the main objection to building a bridge. There is a problem of getting from Heysham to the M6. If we can't have a bypass around Lancaster then a Morecambe Bay bridge would be a gateway to a bottleneck.
Change the world
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with your comment. I moved to Barrow 3 years ago to work and I am originally from the Wirral. The one thing that puts me off living in Barrow is how isolated it is from any major City. Yes its nice living near the lakes and on the coast but why be isolated when there is an answer. Having a Bridge and a good bypass link out of Heysham would open up Barrow to more business and many other possibilities. I can understand people’s fears about crime but the Bridge is not going straight into one of the major cities. Criminals are not going to go all the way to Heysham across to Barrow as it is still out of the way. I thinks its narrow minded people that can’t see this as a good idea. Most people who live in Barrow say that one of the reasons they want to leave is that it is so isolated let’s remove that via this Bridge. Is there anyway we can get this raised at a higher level?
Regards,
Jake
Thanks for your comment Big Jake.
ReplyDeleteMy last paragraph looks like nothing will ever get done - well it has been going on for decades. However there is progress on a link road around Lancaster. Lancashire County Council's plans have just been accepted for examination by the Infrastructure Planning Commission which means that LCC will be looking for comments from the public in the near future.
As for the bridge, I think we will need the link road first, but don't let that stop you writing to your MP.