What does infrastructure imply for drivers?

One of the defining characteristics of the last Parliament was the increased use – by all main parties – of the term infrastructure.

We even got an Infrastructure Act, given its Royal Assent in February 2015, and there is a discrete infrastructure unit within HM Treasury. Blimey.

But what is infrastructure? Is it just the big engineering stuff politicians talk about so they can say they’re spending billions of pounds for our benefit? Your HS railways and your Crossrails?

Or is it much more intimate, affecting the everyday life of pretty much everyone in the country – and thus deserving of our closest attention?

Civilized responses

Take the idea mooted by John Hayes, the last administration’s transport minister, that UK roads should cease to be regarded as mere construction projects and more as works of art.

That’s right. Hayes wants our roads to resonate with our unconscious understanding of beauty. He even invoked the ancient Greeks and Romans, civilizations that looked beyond the utility of the infrastructure to consider its form.

Again, blimey. But surely Hayes has a point. Our road ne2rk is ugly. It’s a mass of drab, functional, soul-sapping concrete that doesn’t so much work at one with nature as split it in 2.

Route of all evil

Many roads aren’t even fit for purpose. Instead of helping the public make the most of local services and amenities, they often cut us off from towns and cities, steering us into distant retail parks.

Hayes wants something different. He believes roads can lift the soul, so he envisages a road ne2rk that fits into the landscape and carries cleaner, greener vehicles.

There are signs that we are making progress, and that some of our newer roads are a triumph of form over function.

Hindhead revisited

Think of the tunnel built to bypass the village of Hindhead in Surrey. It not only protected the surrounding countryside, but also made it better by reuniting 2 commons that were previously split.

The reunion created the largest area of lowland heath in southern Britain. Developers also planted 200,000 trees and shrubs to provide a haven for wildlife.

Cost concerns

Ok, so roads don’t have to be bad. But will beautiful roads be more expensive? Not according to Hayes, who argues that good design need be no more costly than bad design.

It’s partly down to advances in green technologies and construction techniques, such as smarter lighting, building green bridges, more tunneling and better noise barriers.

Whether Hayes’ vision will ever become reality relies in the short term on the Conservatives regaining power at the forthcoming election and, in the longer term, on industry, local government and the populace at large buying into his argument.

Digging deep

The thing is, I’ve never seen a beautiful pothole. Some very impressive ones, and some that have stirred strong emotions. But none has struck me with its aesthetic qualities quite as hard as it has struck my suspension.

So if I were spending the £15 billion the last government earmarked for investment in roads by the end of the decade, I’d use it to fix the shocking state of the highways.

After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I’m more than happy to gaze upon a flawless stretch of smooth tarmac.

What does infrastructure imply for drivers?