It's something to do with money....+ of course, some or all of the below are to "blame"

1. Tax would have to rise-and nobody wants to pay them.

2. Toll charges would have to be applied(same thing as above!)

3. Planning and building costs too much

4. There's a recession-thus no money unless you print it

5. All motoring costs are too cheap-so car ownership soars, towns are clogged but people seem quite happy sitting in jams day after day!

6. Public transport still has to be paid for-thus with fares extortionate, traffic escalates.

Just back from Porto, Portugal's second city, although not much bigger than Northampton. However, it has roads and a mass transit system which Birmingham would envy.

Why are we now so useless at moving people from place to place in and around our towns?

UK population density 269 per sq Km, Portugal 109 per sq Km. (and the UK average includes the Highlands/Snowdonia/National Parks!)

I would think the UK population and town/city size increased more and more rapidly than Portugal's during the Industrial Revolution, so many UK towns mushroomed around a Medieval road layout in periods before cars existed.

It is now hard to sort out and improve the road layout here without mass demolition of property.