HC Deb 09 February 1989 vol 146 cc785-6W
Mr. Home Robertson

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the latest available figures for traffic flows at peak times on the Al road between(a) Edinburgh and Tranent, (b) Tranent and Haddington, (c) Haddington and Dunbar and (d) Dunbar and the English border, and if he will make a statement on the growth trend of traffic on the A 1 over the last 10 years.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

[holding answer 6 February 1989]Information on traffic flows is contained in the following table:

1987 Average Daily Peak Flows1 (vehicles per hour)
AM PM
Edinburgh-Tranent 1,450 1,700
Tranent-Haddington 1,050 1,300
Haddington-Dunbar 750 850
Dunbar-National Boundary 450 500
1 For Haddington-Dunbar single day count.

Information on traffic growth is not available for the last ten years but the statistics held show annual growth rates of 4.9 per cent. between Tranent and Haddington in the period 1980–86; 5.3 per cent. between Haddington and Dunbar in the period 1981–87; and 3.3 per cent. between Dunbar and the national boundary in the period 1978–88. With the opening of the Musselburgh bypass in December 1986 a comparison between traffic flows prior to and since that date, on the section from Edinburgh to Tranent, is inappropriate.

These figures compare with the nationally recorded growth of 3.4 per cent. per annum over the period 1976–87.