Wednesday, 8 April 2020

Coronavirus will transform UK work and travel – says AA

The coronavirus crisis has seen a boom in video conferencing, and a slump in UK road travel "to levels not seen since 1955."

Some people think traffic is unlikely to return to pre-coronavirus levels, and that investment in roads should be reassessed. Edmund King, President of The Automobile Association, is one:
People travelling up and down motorways just to hold meetings is inefficient, expensive and not good for the environment. I think use of roads and rail and indeed bus will be reduced after this crisis.
Arguably in future, we should invest more in broadband because what this current crisis has shown is that the majority of companies can continue working from home, and it can be more efficient.
Professor Greg Marsden from Leeds University's Transport Studies Unit is another. In contrast to the government's projections of 35% traffic growth by 2055, underpinning the roads programme, he thinks a fall in traffic is more likely:
The likely drop in traffic levels post the Covid-19 crisis means that we should delay the road expansion programme and focus instead on rebuilding public transport and switching more of our vehicles to zero emissions.




Cutting UK road building would reduce the demand for aggregates and concrete from companies like Aggregate Industries and parent LafargeHolcim. Even before this crisis started – as we posted in LafargeHolcim ‘will struggle – faced with seismic costs to decarbonise’ – we asked:
Could LafargeHolcim sell its cement 'assets' one day, and move into say timber, even telecoms? It’s not as far fetched as you think.
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