Britain’s first toll road of recent times – Midland Expressway’s 27-mile bypass of Birmingham – will open within 10 weeks
A legal notice to be published tomorrow will give 28 November as a potential opening date, but the road seems unlikely to open until after that.
The road has been built by a consortium 25% owned by Autostrade, a listed Italian motorway operator, and 75% by Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Australia.
Midland Expressway has a 53-year concession.
The road is one of the few toll roads in the world where there is no government control on pricing.
References: Financial Times 19/11/03 page 8, The Daily Telegraph 19/11/03 page 6, The Guardian 19/11/03 page 10 (National Roundup)
