The Transport Committee has its last session on the traffic management inquiry (how do you knock utility company heads together to limit holes in the road and curb congestion without road pricing etc...).

BBC: Viewing guide: What's on in Parliament in coming week

Still, if politics or technology rules out congestion-based road-pricing, a second-best case can be made for raising the petrol tax instead.

ECONOMIST: How much should petrol be taxed?

The government would also be looking into road pricing as another possible means of tackling congestion, he added.

BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Bradford | First car-share lane to be built

On the roads, congestion is almost certain to get worse (unless an economic slowdown curbs it) until nationwide road pricing is introduced.

ECONOMIST: Transport strategy

Road pricing, adjusted for place and time, can, by contrast, be fixed precisely to reduce congestion.

ECONOMIST: Jam today, road pricing tomorrow