Improvements & New Developments

In this section we will be discussing the 3 main improvements on transportation that the UK has taken to either blur the North and South divide or aid to the UK's economic. The 3 main modes of transportation that are being improved is: Rail, port and airport capacity.

The HS2 - High Speed train

The main advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of this train:

Advantages:

The construction and running of this system would create 900 jobs worldwide, with 13000 jobs in leads.
It will strengthen the linkage between the north and south, almost halving the usual time it takes to traverse each.
people, goods and services can all be transported and shifted around the UK easier.
It would bring about 40 million pounds to the economy.
This would negatively effect domestic flying (flights in between cities in the UK will decrease).
The train itself is sustainable and is carbon neutral, meaning that the train has been designed to be far less wasteful with the amount of Co2 produced - which i snow limited.

Disadvantages:

It could have the opposite effect and cause more people to move to London and actually work in London.
It has far greater effect on the northerners then the southerns, bringing more to the north then the south.
The overall cost of the HS2 is 42 billion pounds with a unpredictable turnover (how much it will make).
This money could be invested in existing railroads to increase there capacity instead.
The number of domestic flights are already in decrease, this would only accelerate this.
While it might be 'sustainable' compared to the original trains, it produces far more carbon due to it needing to create more power.

Road Improvements - Smart Motorways

The UK's governments recent investment opened up for the creation of smart motorways. This led to over 100 miles of new lanes on motorways by 2020.

What is a Smart Motorway?

A smart motorway is a system created that opens up the hard shoulder, when it is detected that there is a lot of traffic, for an extra lane to increase traffic flow. The picture on the right shows how the cars on the left are, normally, not meant to be there but due to the electronic sign and detection of traffic, it tells drivers that i can be used. These are generally used on slip roads.

How does it actually reduce traffic?

Stats show that the increased lane increases the vehicles per hour by 1,200. This increase is a clear evidence for how it helps traffic flow.

Sea Ports - London Gateway

Opening in 2013, the London gateway did what it says in its name, opened London up for trade. The port reduced travel time and cost and due to its low seabed, can account for even the largest ship in the world (400 meters long, can carry 18,000 containers). The port will 6000 in employees and supply 2000 jobs. The new direct route is both faster but also reduces the Carbon emission in transportation with lorries. In addition the port it next to one of the business capitals, close to its consumers.

Air Ports - Heathrow VS Manchester

The great debate, between Manchester and Heathrow. Which airport should be expanded:

Heathrow:

Advantages:

The improvement would aid London in competing with cities such as New York or Paris.
It will directly supply 76000 jobs and potentially a similar amount in London, in directly.
It would boost the UK's economy by over 200 billion.
It will potentially bring over 7 million people to the UK.

Disadvantages:

Heathrow airport is already the largest emitter of co2, producing over 2 million tons in 2017, an expansion would only produce more.
Noise pollution for the neighboring 1 million people and those along the flight paths would get worse
Potentially 3 villages are predicted to be destroyed to allow for this. The city of Harmondsworth is needed to be destroyed, a bystander stated it would rip apart the community.

Manchester

Advantages:

The airport is further away from the built up areas and wont affect the neighboring areas.
22 million people live within a two hour drive and the addition of the HS2 will aid to linking London to Manchester reducing travel time to only 1 hour.
It would boost the northern economy.

Disadvantages:

The economic boost is not a much as Heathrow
It would limit London and stop it from rivaling places like NY.
If the runways were doubled, then the carbon emission would increase by double.
Less traffic between London and Manchester due to the gain in flight paths.

Its clear that if you intend to blur the north and south divide then Manchester is the answer. If you want to directly aid to the UK's economy, Heathrow could be the likely option.