§ Sir George GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the oral statement of the hon. Member for Salisbury (Mr Key) of 4 July,Official Report, column 1269, and his answer of 7 March, Official Report, column 1, what is the cost per mile for the total 106W reconstruction using (a) porous asphalt road surface material, (b) a hot rolled asphalt surface and (c) a typical concrete surface for (i) single carriageway roads, (ii) two-lane dual carriageway roads, (iii) three-lane dual carriageway roads and (iv) four-lane dual carriageway roads.
§ Mr. Watts[holding answer 21 July 94]: This question relates to operational matters of the Highways Agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Sir George Gardiner, dated 17 October 1994:
The Minister for Railways and Roads, Mr John Watts MP, has asked me to write to you in reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the cost per mile of reconstructing roads.The earlier statement as recorded within Hansard, for 7 March column 1 reflected the cost of providing porous asphalt surface or a concrete surface. Because the concrete surface also forms the main road structure, the two costs are not directly comparable. This ws confirmed by the Minister for Roads and Traffic during the 14 July Adjourment Debate on M25 (Noise Pollution).Costs of reconstructing roads vary enormously between contracts and are influenced by geographical location, depth of reconstruction, complexity of traffic management and associated works such as drainage. There are also differences which reflect market conditions. It is our experience that these factors are such that the costs of flexible construction with conventional rolled asphalt and concrete are comparable. The costs given within the table below are broadly indicative bearing in mind the limited experience in the use of porous asphalt.To avoid confusion and for comparative purposes, the costs have been calculated on the basis of the road pavement structure only.Other costs are broadly similar between options.
Approximate £ thousand cost/mile Flexible pavement with porous asphalt Flexible pavement with hot rolle dasphalt/Typical concrete Single carriageway 520 450 2-lane dua carriageway all purpose 1,050 900 motorway 1,280 1,100 3-lane dual carriageway all purpose 1,470 1,260 motorway 1,600 1,380 4-lane dual carriageway all purpose — — motorway 2,040 1,750