Vote Low Traffic Why Vote Low Traffic? The May 2026 local elections in England are a key opportunity to shape the future of transport in your local area. They take place at a time of global instability in oil prices,…

Useful for anyone wanting to lobby local candidates before the election in May

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Help us help others Help us help others We help local communities press for better (and more sustainable) transport (public and shared transport, walking, wheeling and cycling). We support them fighting damaging road…

Can you support our work for a healthier, more sustainable future - one where everyone has a choice in how they travel?

New report: Decarbonising Suburban Transport: Ways of thinking and acting - FIT A new report by FIT Fellow and transport expert Jonathan Bray has called for a fresh focus by the government on transport in the suburbs if its housing plans are not to degenerate into more bleak and ...

For the cost of the Lower Thames Crossing, 132 area-wide sustainable urban drainage schemes could be implemented!

Read more recommendations for the UK government in this new report by Jonathan Bray 👇 integratedtransport.org.uk/new-report-d...

Also if this money is available to repair old tunnels, the government clearly has the funds to restore Queensbury Tunney and turn it into a greenway.

What is at the top of your list?

Good news: The government opens £1bn Structures Fund to repair bridges, flyovers and tunnels in England.

The backlog in 2024 was nearly £7bn and it's likely only to have risen since then.

So this is a move in the right direction but also too little to really get to grips with the backlog.

New: Communities face spiralling fuel prices, exacerbating transport poverty and car dependence - and many need car-free alternatives for short trips. I've spoken to successful greenway campaigners, and produced a toolkit! so others can help assemble low-carbon transport routes in their areas

Wondering why National Highways are planting trees?

This will provide some answers... and maybe lead to some more questions! transportactionnetwork.org.uk/national-hig...

The government is right to make sure councils spend road maintenance funding wisely.

But - a slightly awkward question: is a government that struggles with its own budgets and spending decisions really in the best position to judge?
www.itv.com/news/2026-04...

Quick recap: to make way for the A14 road scheme, 400,000 trees & shrubs were cleared. National Highways said they would replant more trees than they had felled.

In 2023, Sky News said three-quarters of the 850,000 saplings planted to replace veteran trees felled for the project had died!

'bridge experts say that not only is the 3,000 figure likely to be on the low side, but £1bn will not be anywhere near enough money to solve the issue' www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04...

TAN Cymru Urges Next Government to Put People first and cut costs TAN Cymru has issued a call to action for the next Welsh Government. The message is clear: whilst the current strategies have set a solid basis for change, the "stark reality" of underinvestment is stalling progress. As the cost-of-living crisis deepens, the next administration must commit

"Cycling, wheeling and walking opportunities are stagnating whilst bus services are in crisis. We need the new government to address these issues to tackle the cost of living crisis.” - Rhian Nowell-Phillips, TAN Cymru transportactionnetwork.org.uk/tan-cymru-ur...

four lives lost every day on UK roads

(not to mention huge amounts of injuries, wildlife)

but we may cut that to 3.71 lives/day by 2031 🤞🏽🎉

imagine having Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) as an organisational target, on your dashboard, and you're seeing how completely we need to change everything

RIS3: Stuck on the wrong road? It has been a busy time for roads campaigners: the Department for Transport published its £27bn 5-year roads plan (2026-2031, known as RIS3) at the end of March and on the same day also approved 16 lo...

Despite RIS3 being a 92 page document, it is remarkably thin on detail in some areas. For example there is no funding defined for day to day maintenance, as opposed to renewals.

Read our full analysis 👇🏽
transportactionnetwork.org.uk/ris3-stuck-o...

The government has set an ambitious target of a 65% reduction in the numbers of people killed and seriously injured by 2035, but allowed National Highways to get away with a paltry 7.5% reduction by 2031.

Road safety has only been given around £464m from the overall £27bn RIS3 budget!

The inclusion of the £650m A38 Derby Junctions and £2.2bn A66 Northern Trans-Pennine schemes in RIS3 was the biggest disappointment, as they offer such poor value for money.

Neither scheme has an approved full business case, and could still be scrapped.
@stopa38expansion.bsky.social

Despite claims of prioritising maintenance and safety, a large number of roads are still being planned.

This was sadly inevitable, with RIS3 being based on out of date traffic projections from 2022 where all scenarios assume traffic growth in a stable economic environment.

The government recently published its £27bn roads plan for 2026–2031, known as RIS3 (Road Investment Strategy 3).

The headlines focused on the (very welcome) increased budget for maintenance and renewals. But lets dig deeper and see what is actually being proposed.

A thread 👇

Vote Low Traffic Why Vote Low Traffic? The May 2026 local elections in England are a key opportunity to shape the future of transport in your local area. They take place at a time of global instability in oil prices,...

Transport is a huge household expense. 📉 By making walking, cycling, and public transport safer and easier, we can lower the cost of travel for everyone.

See how to advocate for cheaper, fairer travel options:
🔗 lowtrafficfuture.org.uk/vote-low-tra...

#CostOfLiving #SafeStreets

RIS3: Stuck on the wrong road? It has been a busy time for roads campaigners: the Department for Transport published its £27bn 5-year roads plan (2026-2031, known as RIS3) at the end of March and on the same day also approved 16 lo...

While the government has set an ambitious target of a 65% reduction in the number of people killed and seriously injured by 2035, it allowed National Highways to get away with a paltry 7.5% reduction by 2031.

Read our latest blog post for more on this transportactionnetwork.org.uk/ris3-stuck-o...

Better connections require better government choices Transport Action Network (TAN)1 has welcomed today's publication of the government’s strategy for integrated transport2. It includes some welcome measures, such as: Revising codes of practice to ensur...

If the government is serious about integrating planning and transport, then it needs to stop approving large road schemes such as the A38 Derby Junctions.

Our response to the government’s strategy for integrated transport 👇
transportactionnetwork.org.uk/better-conne...

"It’s selfish, greedy and all comes down to money – not people’s dignity." Fatima Whitbread slams proposed closure of care home to make way for new road | Local News | News | Thurrock Nub News | by Nu... “Care must come before convenience If more time is needed to build a new home, then that is what must happen.'

Fatima Whitbred has spoken up against the Lower Thames Crossing and the closure of The Whitecroft care home:
"This is absolutely shocking behaviour. It's selfish, greedy and all comes down to money – not people's dignity"
thurrock.nub.news/news/local-n...

National Highways secures little safety funding but a soft safety target Documents published by National Highways’ regulator show how the company tried to avoid being held to account during the new Road Investment Strategy (RIS 3) for its continued failure to meet casua…

"The commitment of less than 2% of the RIS3 Statement of Funds Available to specific safety activities is difficult to reconcile with safety being the number one priority for the organisation."

I couldn't have put it better myself.

transportinsights.blog/2026/03/31/n...

The total funding in RIS3 for road safety is around £464m.

As transport journalist @christoframes.bsky.social points out, this is less than 2% of the overall spend, supposedly on National Highway's “top priority”!

The government has significantly lowered the ambition for National Highways to reduce serious injuries.

The new target is for a 7.5% reduction up to 2031, based on the 2022-24 baseline. This is a massive departure from the previous target of zero-harm by 2040.

The latest (2024) greenhouse gas statistics show domestic transport now represents 30% of UK emissions.

Around 90% of these emissions are from road transport and represent a failure of current policies.

Work on major £600m Derby A38 upgrade expected to start in 2030 The major project aims to increase the capacity of the A38 in Derby but has met with opposition.

Imagine what starting to spend £600 million now on rail, bus, cycling, and walking infrastructure would do for Derby and the surrounding area - instead of what will no doubt be close to a billion by 2030, take 4 years, and increase traffic www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It's always important to look beyond the headlines and see what the actual facts are 👇🏽

Also, the target for safety is woefully unambitious.

Previously, National Highways had an ambition of reaching zero harm on its network by 2040. At this rate of improvement this won’t be achieved until after 2090!!