An open letter to:
Jim O’ Sullivan Chief Executive – Highways England
The Secretary of State for Transport , Patrick McLoughlin.
And anyone involved in the design, construction and operation of the Dartford Crossing improvements.
From a driver who loves his job in Thurrock but is starting to hate the journey.
Like many thousands of other drivers I use the Dartford Crossing to get to work each day (Tunnels in, Bridge out) Users of the crossing were informed that Free Flow Tolling would solve all the problems at the crossing and the queues would disappear. After enduring months of roadworks, both sides were fully opened with just a few bits left to do.
Unfortunately, since the tolls were removed, travelling via the tunnels has become dramatically worse (Although, to be fair, the days that Calais has been closed have seen vast improvements). My 45 minute journey now takes over 1 ½ hours and has taken 4 ½ on more than one occasion. Queues often start at J3 or J4. It is just as bad in the evenings. It has become a hot topic with many people accusing the Department for Transport and the Highways Agency of being inept, incompetent and not fit for purpose.
But is this fair? Just like you see in many newspapers, I have devised a short quiz to challenge these accusations. So here goes.
Q1. You have a tunnel with a height restriction. Where do you put the sensor which alerts the driver they are over height?
After the last exit requiring special arrangements to remove the offending vehicle
Before the last exit with perhaps a flashing sign saying “Over height Vehicle: Leave at next exit”
Q2. Certain vehicles are prohibited or need escorts through the tunnel. Do you
Put up a couple of signs showing the restrictions and give a very small instruction at the bottom to follow a symbol. Then provide the symbol as a direction that seems very small and can be mistaken to be an instruction to keep on.
Put up signs detailing the restrictions very early and then a large sign saying “Restricted or vehicles for escort leave at next exit”
Q3. HGVs and LGVs are not allowed in the outside lane of the tunnels. Do you
Put up signs showing all vehicles can use all lanes until actually in the tunnel access road then show the bar at the point where restricted vehicles have to move into the left lane at the same spot where more vehicles are trying to join from the left forcing 3 lanes of traffic into one
Put up warning signs some way before the tunnel informing trucks of the restriction and giving them time to move over earlier
Q4. Having placed the over height detector in the actual approach to the tunnel, you need a way of extracting them. Do you
Put in an escape road access so close and so small that trucks have to use both lanes of the tunnel to make a very tight U turn to the left, forcing every other vehicle to wait, and then often have to reverse and juggle to get into the gap
Build a sufficiently wide and open escape road that would allow any vehicle to leave easily without bringing the whole traffic system to a halt.
Q5. When you have realised there is an over height vehicle. You identify the vehicle by
Stopping all vehicles and then allowing one truck through at a time until you find the right one while preventing any car from moving during this process
Have a modern sensor system that actually identifies the correct vehicle allowing it to be removed while other traffic continues
Q6. When you plan the roadworks and announce to travellers when it will start and finish, do you
Give a start date, set a finish date but then keep moving the date. For example from March to Spring to April to June to Summer to September while announcing on your own website (before starting and through all the changes) that roadworks will actually continue to October. (BREAKING NEWS: New signs just erected saying the works will now be completed in Autumn 2015)
Find people who can actually work out how long the works will really take and set a date that can be met (allowing for some problems)
Q7. You want to find out if your system for traffic control will work. Do you
Simulate the hundreds of thousands of vehicles using 4 lanes of road on what is probably the busiest road in the UK by borrowing a few trucks and driving them around an airfield
Look at how other tunnels address this problem and build a system around real life solutions
So to assess your answers.
Mostly or all A’s. The charge of incompetence could seem to have been proven. It would appear that little though would have been given to thinking how the system would actually work. Did anyone look at other tunnels where these problems have been solved or was it more fun to re-invent the wheel. One might ask if any concern about the effects to the drivers was taken.
Mostly or all B’s. You have carefully thought out the problem and have used obvious and appropriate options
I’ll leave you to come to your own conclusions. Crazily you can see how these problems are set out and how the escape system is hard to use on the Highways Agency’s own video. However, bearing in mind the publicity given to these delays, when I rang the Highways Agency to ask about the delays and if they would improve I was asked “What delays” Enough said?
Ray Munro-Crump
Crawley resident
Thurrock worker
