D-DAY for the £335m bid to build a second crossing over the River Mersey is as little as two months away, a Westminster reception was told yesterday.
Transport Minister Tony McNulty told a group of 60 MPs, peers, local councillors and business leaders that he hoped to make a decision in January or February.
That timetable is significantly shorter than previous suggestions by the Department of Transport (Dft), which had pointed to a delay until March or April.
Mr McNulty told the reception that the government accepted "something needs be done" to cure chronic congestion on the existing Silver Jubilee bridge linking Runcorn and Widnes.
And he praised the "tough decision" of Halton Borough Council to accept that tolls were inevitable - on both bridges - to prevent the cost mushrooming to £750m. Praising local Labour MPs Derek Twigg (Halton) and Mike Hall (Weaver Vale) as "real champions" for the project, Mr McNulty said: "The case has been put.
"When we come to make a decision, it will be a fair decision and it will fully understand the strategic consequences if the bridge doesn't go ahead."
The Mersey Gateway reception was held overlooking the River Thames which, as one speaker pointed out, boasted 27 crossings.
Cllr Tony McDermott, the leader of Halton Council, said its final submission to the Dft had reluctantly accepted tolling only if there were "substantial discounts" for local drivers.
Halton also suggests the existing bridge should be cut from four lanes to two, to allow cyclists and pedestrians to cross safely.
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