Britain should be building roads at more than three times its current rate to prepare the system for growing car ownership and use over the next 30 years, according to a report published on Wednesday by the RAC Foundation.

The report, by three transport experts led by Stephen Glaister, professor of transport and infrastructure at Imperial College London, also says the country needs a scheme to charge for road use to make the best possible use of the network.

It is likely to be influential. A previous RAC Foundation report in 2002 was seen as important in persuading ministers to adopt road-user charging as policy.

The latest report argues there is a strong economic case for the UK to build at least 600 lane-kilometres of trunk road a year – equivalent to 100km of six-lane motorway. Current plans by the Highways Agency for England foresee the building of only about 125 lane-kilometres a year until 2015.

The report argues that the proposed programme – to cost about £4.5bn a year – could be paid for with revenues from a road-user charging scheme. It suggests the most sensible average level of charging for road use would be about 9p per km in slower-growing areas, such as Scotland, rising to 40p per km in London

This prescription for a road-user charging scheme differs from that outlined by the government in its 2004 white paper, by retaining fuel tax on petrol to cover the environmental cost of carbon emissions. The duty would fall, however, from the present level of 50p a litre to 14p. The Department for Transport plan suggested taxes on fuel would be eliminated altogether.

The RAC report suggests that – after the costs of the charging scheme and the building of trunk roads – income from road users would be £15bn-£20bn higher in 2041 than current levels.