Five major rail projects in Nottinghamshire have been ditched in favour of enlarging the A46 into a dual carriageway, the Nottingham Evening Post revealed on 20 February.
Campaigners criticised politicians for shelving the proposals – which would have cost only a third of the £348million agreed for the A46.
The rail upgrades were part of a wish list put forward by the East Midlands Regional Assembly.
They were dropped after the Government offered to pay half the cost of the A46 if the assembly matched it.
The assembly has now shelved upgrades of the Midland Mainline, the Nottingham-Skegness line and Robin Hood Line, as well as a railway flyover at Newark and a Robin Hood line extension to Bingham.
Only one of six rail schemes is set to go ahead – a speed improvement on the Nottingham-Lincoln line.
"We need to rethink where we channel investment in the region and if it is really the best use of increasingly limited funds to pour them into these expensive road schemes," said Bettina Lange of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.
Assembly member Neil Clarke claimed it was a "good, balanced" investment and "priorities changed" when the Government's A46 cash became available.
The obvious question is why the Government agreed to fund half the road scheme when it should have funded the rail schemes in full.
As a reader rightly asked: “Why is the government, national and local, prioritising roads over public transport?
“Efficient, affordable and environmentally sound public transport should be at the heart of their policies, not schemes which seem designed to persuade people back into their cars.”
The taxpayers’ £348million will be spent on the A46 between the M1 at Leicester and the A1 at Newark.
Neither the Government nor Mr Clarke explained how much extra traffic would be generated or how much extra pollution would be caused by the road expansion.
Source: ThisisNottingham