§ Sir A. Meyerasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what is the average construction cost per mile of a two-lane dual carriage road;
258W(2) what is the average construction cost per mile of a two-lane motorway.
§ Mr. HoramConstruction costs vary widely depending on the nature of the terrain through which the motorway passes and whether the location is urban or rural. On motorway schemes in rural areas for which contracts were let in the period 1970–77, costs—at November 1977 prices—were in the range of £0.98 million to £3.69 million per mile for dual two-lane motorways with a mean of £1.60 million and for dual two-lane all-purpose trunk roads a range of £0.42 million to £2.11 million per mile with a mean of £1.26 million. Land cost and rehousing are excluded from these figures.
Urban motorway costs are usually considerably higher than rural ones.
§ Sir A. Meyerasked the Secretary of State for Transport what is the average cost per mile of constructing a single carriageway road alongside an existing single carriageway road so as to provide a makeshift dual carriageway.
§ Mr. HoramConstruction costs vary widely, dependent on whether the original corridor was prepared in the anticipation of a future dualling and other factors. No figures are readily available but the estimated cost of dualling on a virgin site in rural areas would be £0.5 million to £1.25 million per mile. These figures do not allow for any major bridges or structures and land costs are excluded from the figures.