Congestion chaos in Dartford as £9bn crossing decision delayed

KentOnline / KMTV

Whilst campaign groups against the proposed Lower Thames Crossing welcome more scrutiny, those who have to rely on the Dartford Crossing and it's infamous traffic say something needs to be done.

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00:0050 million vehicles a year up to nearly 200,000 a day and no solution in sight.

00:07This is the reality facing the Dartford crossing and the people that live beside it.

00:13If the traffic's bad at the tunnel the estate just becomes a car park,

00:17you can't even get off your drive, it can take an hour to get anywhere,

00:21an hour to get home from work.

00:23Normally if there's a problem with a bridge it affects everybody.

00:27If the bridge is congested, whatever it is, whether it's protesters or whatever happens,

00:33accidents, if anything goes wrong with the bridge the whole of Dartford falls to pieces.

00:37You know a few years ago I'd probably do four or five jobs a day,

00:41spend probably four or five hours working and two or three hours travelling.

00:45Now I'm doing one or two jobs a day and spending

00:48five hours a day travelling, maybe an hour and a half working, two hours at most.

00:54With gridlock, congestion and air pollution rampant,

00:57there are plans being put forward to build a new crossing under the Thames near Gravesend

01:03to ease overcapacity.

01:05But after a series of delays the Secretary of State for Transport has pushed back the

01:11deadline to approve or reject the plans until next year.

01:16Well it's inexplicable, I mean it's beyond parody really.

01:19I mean this is an issue that's been on the table for a very long time,

01:22it's been on ministers desk for a very long time,

01:24so quite unearthly there needs to be this delay now, it's simply beyond me.

01:28So what's next?

01:29Well in a written statement to Parliament the Secretary of State for Transport revealed

01:35the new deadline for the decision will be at the end of May next year,

01:40saying it will give the government more time to consider the application,

01:45including any changes made to spending.

01:49It also means for the next seven months the disappointed Labour MP for Dartford

01:54will have a lot of letters and lobbying to do.

01:57If it means that we can get shovels in the ground shortly after May

02:01then it will have been worth the wait,

02:02but it's clearly disappointing that approval hasn't been given as of now.

02:07The project has been in the works for 15 years,

02:11with so much at stake another seven months may be a bridge too far.

02:17Oliver Leeders, The Sats for KMTV in Dartford.

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