§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give the latest available figures for 539W traffic flow at peak times on the A1 road between Morpeth and the Scottish border; and if he will make a statement on the growth trend of traffic on that section of the A1 over the last 10 years.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe Department's northern regional office has installed three permanent loop counting sites on the A1 north of Morpeth. Two of the sites, one north of Berwick and another north of Alnwick have been in operation for more than a year. The third site, just south of Alnwick, has been operating since October 1988.
The latest flow figures at these sites showing a seven-day average for the week ending Sunday 1 January 1989 are as follows:
Vehicles per day (24 hours) North of Berwick 5,650 South of Alnwick 8,200 North of Alnwick 4,850 The highest recorded flows during the past 12 months on the two sites in operation in that period were:
Vehicles per day (24 hours) North of Berwick 9,770 North of Alnwick 7,730 There are no figures available that would accurately reflect the traffic growth over the last ten years on this section of road. Local planning data from the Alnwick and Berwick districts indicates a growth factor of 28 per cent. over this period.