The Freight Transport Association is concerned that planning and decision taking delays could mean that the proposed new M6 toll road between Birmingham and Manchester will not be open until 2019 - an astonishing 15 years away.
FTA said that such a delay, over so many years on so vital a trade route, will result in billions of pounds and billions of man-hours by motorists and lorry drivers wasted in vehicles marooned in daily traffic congestion.
FTA chief executive Richard Turner said: "The government's announcement of a consultation on building the new road is excellent and welcome news. And, of course, we have to be realistic about the problems associated with a major project of this type. But we must all recognise the coming emergency of congestion on the M6 and we should not tolerate it.
"Industry and the economy cannot afford to wait until 2019 in order to get a reliable journey between two of our major cities. I have told Alistair Darling that even the ten years which he expects the building of the road to take, is by no means quick enough. I explained to him that our status as the fourth largest economy in the world, and all of the benefits that go with that, will inevitably slip if we are unable to move goods and people around our country with speed and reliability. Without improving the whole of our motorway network we are unlikely to sustain the economic growth we need.
"As such the government should do all that it can to bring forward the construction of the new road as quickly as possible by cutting through our out-dated planning machinery.
"In the meantime the government and the Highways Agency must consider what quick-fix measures can be taken on the M6 in order to help increase the roads capacity in the short term until the new road is available."
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