Former British Airways chief executive Sir Rod Eddington is expected to back road-user charging as well as increased spending on roads in his wide-ranging blueprint for the UK's transport infrastructure.
Chancellor Gordon Brown has commissioned Eddington to find solutions to the nation's transport problems.
Eddington's view is that drivers should pay to use roads with high levels of congestion, especially during peak periods. He believes that cutting congestion is essential to
Britain's economic success, arguing that the answer is "demand management" rather than huge road and rail construction projects.
This post-2015 blueprint is likely to be seen by some voters as a way of raising revenue without putting up taxes.
Ministers will not give road-user charging their complete backing until a number of trial schemes have been run; these are likely to begin in Manchester, the West Midlands and Cardiff during 2010.
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