HC Deb 27 October 1971 vol 823 cc1724-5
24. Mr. Marks

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects the Ml-M6 motorway link to be completed.

Mr. Graham Page

My right hon. Friend hopes that it will be early in 1972. The date is subject to completion of appraisals and safety checks now being made on the steel box girder bridges on the length between Great Barr and Castle Bromwich.

Mr. Marks

Will the hon. Gentleman urge those responsible for signposting the routes to the motorway, and particularly those responsible for temporary signposts, that they should give adequate warning, so that there are no last-second decisions by drivers, and that they should see that there are no gaps in the signposting to motorways, with the result that people get lost on the way to them.

Mr. Page

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the matter. I shall certainly look into it.

Mr. Adam Butler

Is my hon. Friend aware that cars joining the Ml from the link and the M45 from Birmingham cannot turn north? Will he consider making that possible?

Mr. Page

No, Sir. I think that that is unnecessary, because of the way in which the roads are designed.

Mr. Golding

Is the Minister aware that the only part of the crash programme for roads that is succeeding is the removal of fog warnings from the M6? Will the Government ensure that no motorway is opened at the expense of the removal of fog warnings from existing stretches of motorway?

Mr. Page

It is not a question of removal of the fog warnings but of using to the best purpose those which are available.