Five years of the M6 toll road
While the Welsh Assembly considers the implications of a toll road parallel to the M4, it would be very wise for it to consider MPs' concerns about the country's first pay-as-you-go motorway.
This December sees the five-year anniversary of the M6 Toll Road, designed to give relief to the M6 between junctions 11 and 4. Latest traffic figures from the road's owners, Midland Expressway (MEL), show that between April and June, there were around 42,000 vehicles using the road each day 13.2% less than in the same period in 2007 and around 10% less than in 2006.
This decline has prompted independent credit rating company Standard and Poor's to downgrade the "long-term debt rating" for MEL's parent company, Macquarie Motorways Group.
