In a new report called Tackling congestion, driving growth - A new approach to roads policy, the UK’s largest business group argues that time and money wasted on Britain’s congested roads can be saved, and makes a series of suggestions about how government and business can address the issue.

A CBI survey shows 80% of companies see roads as being ‘vital’ to their business, and 96% of companies want to see fresh thinking from an incoming government and a willingness to tackle rush hour congestion as a matter of priority1.

With vehicle traffic having grown by a quarter in just 20 years, road congestion now costs the economy an estimated £7-8bn a year, which is likely to more than double by 2025 unless more action is taken2.

John Cridland, the CBI’s Deputy Director-General, said:

“For too long, Britain’s roads have been a cause of frustration and delays for our businesses and commuters. Some government initiatives, such as road-widening schemes or using the hard shoulder on motorways, have been welcome but hardly scratch the surface of the problem.

“Now is the time for fresh thinking on the roads. We need a radical overhaul of how we travel and manage our road system if we are to do more than simply tinker at the edges. Merely slowing the endless rise in congestion is not enough. The CBI would like to see policymakers put the same amount of energy and vision into roads as they are doing on high speed rail.”

The CBI says that simply building more roads will not solve the problem. Instead, an overhaul of the way we work is needed. More companies should adopt more flexible patterns of work, and encourage staff to make use of modern communications technologies, such as video conferencing instead of always travelling to meetings.

The CBI’s proposals to cut congestion on the roads include:

#Encouraging more staff to stagger their commutes and break out of the usual ‘9 to 5’ routine. Flexible working patterns not only bring higher productivity to firms, they can help cut emissions and have been shown to reduce congestion as more people work remotely or change the times they travel.