Shapps: Government to review £27bn roads plan after Covid-19 reshaped travel
The government is set to review its £27bn roads investment plan after Covid-19 reshaped travel, the transport secretary said today.
Lockdown measures like working from home and online shopping have had permanent impacts on the UK’s travel routines.
“In the last eighteen months, fundamental changes have occurred in commuting, shopping, and business travel, which before the pandemic made up 30 per cent of all road journeys by distance,” transport secretary Grant Shapps said.
The review is expected to begin later this year and will be completed by spring 2023.
“Trends already underway in homeworking, online shopping, and videoconferencing, all of which had reduced trip rates even before the pandemic, have dramatically increased, and seem unlikely to be fully reversed,” the transport secretary added.
The pandemic also pushed people to use public transport less amid social distancing rules.
The “hopefully temporary” shift away from public transport will be looked at to determine the impacts on road demand.