I have to travel from Morecambe to the M6 fairly regularly and I have written previously about the traffic problems on the Morecambe to Lancaster road. However there are protestors who aren't keen on a proposed link road, mainly because of its environmental impact. This week we discover that otters in the River Lune will delay matters further and increase costs. Those who are opposed feel that this is a reason to cancel the plans despite all the procedures, delays and added costs that have already taken place. It is ironic that if the road does not get built then a bypass will be built near Ormskirk along with its environmental impact.
I am not in favour of widespread expansion for its own sake. It may well be the case, as Schumacher argued in his book Small is Beautiful that the modern economy is unsustainable. I agree with him when he puts the case that we have to gain the maximum amount of wellbeing with the minimum amount of consumption and in this respect we need a thriving Morecambe. In particular we need a thriving Winter Gardens, which is still a fine theatre even though it closed in 1977. There are so many uses for this building which has achieved some or its potential because of the hard work of the Friends of the Winter Gardens, but even they cannot develop the building fully without the infrastructure to allow it to flourish i.e. the link road. It would be a fitting tribute to the architect of the Winter Gardens if we had a flourishing theatre once again in Morecambe.
I drove to the motorway at 10am this morning (a Sunday) and yes there were delays on the road. Unfortunately I was advised to expect delays because of roadworks which will be an added problem for the next ten days. I hope that I don't have to repeat this journey for some time.
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If you go on the website about the link road you will see how it has been downgraded. It started off as a proposed two lane dual carriageway, then a single lane dual carriage way, latest I saw was an ordinary A class road. We'll be lucky to get a cart track at this rate
ReplyDeleteThanks Sea. I can't find the bit about single lane but I did find this...
ReplyDeleteThe Heysham to M6 Link will complete the long awaited connection from the Heysham and Morecambe peninsula to Junction 34 of the M6. It will be a two lane dual carriageway with a footpath and cycleway along the entire route. The first phase was completed in July 1994.