HC Deb 30 June 1969 vol 786 c21W
79. Sir Clive Bossom

asked the Minister of Transport which lengths of motorway currently in use, or planned for the future, are not expected to receive the volume of traffic required to justify three lanes in each direction.

Mr. Bob Brown

Motorways are planned with dual two or three lanes according to the best estimates that can be made at the time they are designed of the traffic they are likely to carry fifteen years from opening. Some of the dual two-lane motorways now in use or planned may, therefore, ultimately carry traffic that would then justify the provision of dual three lanes, but it would be very difficult to predict the lengths on which this is not likely to happen.

80. Sir Clive Bossom

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will state the criteria, especially in regard to estimated traffic flow rates, that are used in deciding whether a motorway should be constructed with two or three lanes in each direction.

Mr. Bob Brown

The criteria used for rural and urban motorways are given in the publications "Layout of Roads in Rural Areas" and "Roads in Urban Areas", and copies are available in the Library.