The Humber bridge now carries ~25-30,000 vehicles a day compared to the QE2 Dartford crossing carrying 130-180,000 per day.
QE2 carried high volumes from its initial opening - a project meeting a proven demand. Humber Bridge carried low traffic levels for many years - volumes grew through commercial development as capacity was there, not because it was originally foreseen or needed.
HS2 was originally justified on the basis of journey times saved. It was marginal at best and assumed (mistakenly IMHO) that reduced journey times can be expressed as a financial saving - only justified if something useful is done with the time.
It then morphed into a capacity increase project. However retaining the high speed element made the cost much higher than simply a capacity upgrade.
To attain high speeds it can only make limited stops en-route. The proposition that journey times is important is questionable - a 30min saving on a 1hr 30min journey sounds great at 33% - but door to door turns a (say) 3hr journey into 2hr 30min - 15% is far less convincing.
HS2 is a testament to the power of political manoeuvring and vested interests over objective sense.
|
