"I understand that the Dartford Tunnel and Queen Elizabeth Bridge construction costs have been paid up for a few years. The Toll booths are a bottle-neck to free traffic flow and cause serious hold-ups in both directions, last Nov it took 2 hours from the M20 to the Toll booths a distance of about 5 miles. The pollution to the local area from fumes, clutch and brake dust(high asbestos content) and noise is not acceptable environmentally. I propose that the existing 50mph speed limits be rigorously enforced for safety reasons."
I've only used this crossing twice (once in either direction) and know little or nothing about the specific situation. It's possible that the tolls were only ever intended to cover the initial costs. But this seems unlikely, to me. Tunnels and bridges both have considerably more upkeep costs than normal road, and it doesn't seem unreasonable to me for part of the burden of this cost to be carried by those who use the crossing. This petitioner has completely ignored this. Which irritates me.
He's quite right about the bottle-necking, in my experience (but then, I was travelling during a weekend in July; of course there were blockages), but that's not enough in my opinion to suggest that the tolls are unnecessary.
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