Road Block, a national alliance of local groups and individuals opposed to new road building, was launched on Monday 17 January and protesters immediately swung into action.
Bedfordshire residents opposed to the Stoke Hammond to Linslade Bypass stopped contract road workers carrying out preparatory clearance work, ahead of main road building works.
Contractor vehicles and equipment were at the site in the early hours, but no work took place in the face of 40 local residents bearing banners and placards reading "no more roads" and "trees not trucks".
The new bypass is just part of a hugely controversial development in the east of England region based on the expansion of Luton Airport.
Road Block campaigner Rebecca Lush was at the proposed bypass site with Bedfordshire residents.
She said: “It is so inspiring to see this level of commitment amongst local residents to protecting their area from the futility of road building.
This protest showed the Government that people are prepared to stand up and oppose unsustainable development plans.
"Today’s protest is only the beginning: Road Block is forming an alliance of all the local groups around the country facing the same fate as the residents of Linslade.”
The Stoke Hammond and Linslade Western Bypass is the first of four bypasses, which will provide a dual carriageway between Milton Keynes and Aylesbury.
Victoria Harvey of South Bedfordshire Friends of the Earth said: “This is the beginning of John Prescott’s housing plans, and also the
beginning of the resistance to them. We need affordable houses and doctors in Leighton Buzzard, not roads that won’t help congestion, nor
stop the lorries going through the town.
"Most of the area will be gridlocked according to Government figures, even with the bypass. I’m amazed that they can find the money for roads, but not for homes for key public sector workers.”
Road Block is launching in response to a roads programme that has gradually built up to around 200 proposed or planned schemes throughout the UK. This scale of road building is at a level not seen since the infamous 1990s road building programme, which ignited unprecedented community-based protest. This protest led to the cancellation of most of the schemes, and a manifesto pledge by Labour to cut road building and traffic growth.
Rebecca Lush added: "Road building just leads to traffic growth, which leads to more traffic jams and more greenhouse gas emissions. Most of these road schemes are also linked to aviation expansion and unsustainable development in housing.
"Road Block is supporting community groups around the UK who have had enough of this insane direction - we will be highlighting the hypocrisy of Blair talking tough on climate while supporting more roads. If this government is planning more roads, they should expect more protests, from the planning stages right through to standing in front of bulldozers if necessary."
Bedfordshire has been badly served by politicians and planners who have concentrated on road building while failing to implement the East-West rail link and trying to convert the Luton-Dunstable rail line into a busway. In neighbouring Cambridgeshire, they are also trying to convert the Cambridge-St Ives rail line into a busway.
Information from Rebecca Lush 07854 693067. Melanie Jarman 01803 847649. Victoria Harvey 01525 385 097.
For more info on road schemes see http://www.transport2000.org.uk
More info: http://www.roadalert.org.uk