3.10 Department for Transport forecasts suggest that congestion across the English road network as a whole will increase from 2003 levels by 27 per cent by 2025 and 54 per cent by 2035.2 Traffic will shift to less congested roads but, here too, congestion will increase over time. This is expected to result in an average increase in time spent travelling per unit of distance of four per cent, although this figure varies widely from an extra 12 per cent time spent travelling in London to an extra two per cent time travelling in rural areas. Journey time on inter-urban roads is forecast to be three per cent higher.
3.11 The map in Figure 3.A shows forecast peak period speeds on the Strategic road network in 2025, assuming none of the current roads schemes were to go ahead. Whilst a number of the slowest sections are currently being addressed by an ambitious programme to address capacity, performance and resilience (see Figure 3.B), there are likely to be continuing challenges on other sections of the network by 2025 due to forecast increasing levels of demand.
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