Manifesto review #5

"During the first week we will ............ identify where traffic flows can be improved to reduce journey times." IW Conservative website, 11 April 2005.

Taking my ease in Church Litten one morning during the recent sunny spell, and enjoying a well earned can of purple label as I watched the tumbleweed blowing up and down all three empty lanes of the carriageway, I was reflecting on how effectively the free flow of traffic in that particular thoroughfare had been improved. Oddly, just a few metres away, the South Street tailback was backing up as usual around Coppins Bridge and beyond, effectively blocking all of the entrances and exits to Newport yet again.

As I pondered this paradox, I recalled that a retired highways engineer once told me in a pub that the trick in all this was to make best use of all of the finite network available. Although I dismissed him at the time as a dangerous lunatic, I wonder if he had a point?

Meanwhile Pugh, after several years of careful consideration, hints that he is not necessarily averse to doing something, possibly, one day, to do with Trafalgar Road. Breathtaking!

Manifesto score: 0/10