HAULIERS have called for urgent improvements to the M62.
They fear that unless major widening works are carried out the busy motorway will grind to a halt.
The Freight Transport Association says key arterial routes in the north of England need to be improved immediately, not in 20 years.
The association's Yorkshire and Humberside Freight Council reacted strongly to a study by the Government's Highways Agency which has concluded that most parts of the M62 will be `stop-start', possibly even during off-peak periods, by 2030.
Members said they were perplexed by a need to study traffic patterns in 2030 when problems exist now.
And they said the recent introduction of traffic lights at Clifton, near Brighouse, and other traffic management schemes for the motorway would not solve congestion.
The Highways Agency study was done for The Northern Way, a group of the three regional development agencies.
The report says Manchester Airport is one of the key causes of congestion on the M62.
The association's Freight Council believes the solution is to invest in airports to the east of the Pennines - Leeds-Bradford, Doncaster Robin Hood and Humberside, so taking pressure off Manchester.
The Freight Council said that if early action was taken to improve capacity on the key arterial routes in the North there would be a chance of solving the problem of congestion on the M62.
A spokesman said: "The FTA supports new methods of managing traffic at peak times.
"But this can be no substitute for a real increase in capacity through road widening.
"Ministers are up to their necks in transport studies.
"What we need to see are some bold projects that are able to address the problems we all know already exist."
