HAVING bowed to public pressure and done a U-turn on its cars-are-bad dogma, the government gives Blackburn an encouraging nod - though not yet the cash - for building a 400-yard extension to the town's Barbara Castle Way.
This is a small but important piece in the far-from-complete jigsaw of the orbital inner relief route - planned more than 30 years ago to keep 'through' traffic out of the town centre and needed now more than ever.
But though this extra bit might bring improvement, overall, the orbital route scheme is no more than an hotch-potch of unsuitable existing roads.
With the government now seeing the sense of new roads that relieve congestion, we trust the council will now be making a case not just for a 400-yard extension, but the entire new orbital route it should and could have had a generation ago at a fraction of today's costs.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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