§ Mr. Gerald BowdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spends on environmental and safety measures included in new trunk road schemes.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe Department is committed to minimising the impact of new roads on the environment and to enhancing road safety. These are two of our main objectives in building roads and form an integral part of our planning and design process.
Possible measures to mitigate the impact of the road such as use of sensitive design, banks to screen traffic, planting, choice of materials and colour of structures are all taken into consideration when preparing the detailed design.
In some exceptional circumstances, special features such as tunnels may be incorporated.
Safety features such as lighting, signing, safety barriers and special provisions for pedestrians and cyclists are considered when drawing up the detailed design; and all contribute to the overall safety of the road.
Because environmental and safety measures are integrated into the design and construction of schemes, their cost cannot in general be identified separately.
Information can be given for some illustrative examples.
On the Al2 Hackney-M11 link road, we estimate that overall some £50 million will be spent on environmental measures, including some tunnelling. This represents about 40 per cent. of the total scheme cost.
The A69 Newcastle Western bypass is to pass under rather than over the Metro line at an additional cost of £3 million.
On the A361 North Devon link road well over £1 million was spent on environmental measures including nearly three miles of Devon hedgebanks.
Planting is only implemented after a road scheme has been built. The expenditure involved can be more readily identified.
In the last financial year the Department spent £2.2 million on planting and associated works.
A total of 1.4 million trees and shrubs were planted. Typical schemes are A35 Dorchester bypass where almost 70,000 plants are being provided at a cost of £150,000 and the A626 Stocksbridge-Ml link where £111,000 is being spent on over 60,000 plants.
558WWith regard to safety aspects, the cost of central reserve safety barriers can be identified. New dual carriageways are generally provided with central reserve safety barriers at the outset.
For example, over £0.5 million was spent on this on the south Woodford to Barking relief road completed in December 1987 and over £1 million on the Newcastle Western bypass currently under construction.
In addition the Department has a rolling programme to a value of some £10 million per year to install central reserve safety fencing on existing roads.
For 1989–90 this represents almost 150 miles of safety fencing. The provision and renewal of safety barriers is also carried out as part of major maintenance contracts.