The announcement by the government that the consultation into a third Thames crossing will begin in a bid to find a solution to traffic queues at Dartford has been welcomed by the Freight Transport Association which said the need to ease congestion at what is one of the most important national artery routes is essential.

The FTA says the cost of queuing should be taken into account, which for a 44 tonne truck averages £1 per minute, outweighing the cost of the toll and ultimately the price of constructing the right crossing to relieve what are now real pinch-points at Dartford and the Blackwall Tunnel.

In a statement in response to the announcement by Stephen Hammond, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, FTA pointed out that the introduction of free-flow tolling in 2014 will go some way to relieving the queues at the tunnels, but added that new capacity was needed and there was a definite requirement to plan more efficiently for the future in order to cope with traffic on these essential routes.