§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland at which points the A1 in Scotland is expected to be reduced to one-way operation during the next six weeks; and whether these restrictions will apply during the Scottish and English bank holiday weekends.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonOne-way operations on the A1 in Scotland in the next six weeks will take place at the following locations
Haddington Bypass—construction of a roundabout at the Aberlady (A6132) junction.Haddington eastwards to Beanston—two separate moving single lane.Beanston eastwards to East Linton—restrictions for laying a gas main.Musselburgh Bypass—short contraflow or lane closures for bridge works.Of these, the Haddington bypass restriction will be in force over the Scottish bank holiday weekend but will be 772W lifted for the English holiday. British Gas will still be working on both holidays but will remove one-way working over the Scottish holiday weekend and it is hoped that it will manage to do likewise for the English weekend.
§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what were the projected traffic flow figures for vehicles, by category, travelling on the A1 between Edinburgh and the border before the announcement of the upgrading programme south of Newcastle;
(2) what are the projected traffic flow figures for vehicles, by category, travelling on the A1 between Edinburgh and the border following completion of the upgrading programme south of Newcastle.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton[holding answer 12 July 1990]: Traffic levels vary significantly on the A1 between Edinburgh and the border. At 1989 traffic levels, the average annual flow west of Haddington was 13,000 vehicles per day, reducing-to approximately 5,000 vehicles per day in Borders region. Heavy goods vehicles account for approximately 12 to 13 per cent. and 20 to 30 per cent. of the flows respectively. National forecasts predict an overall increase in road traffic of between 23 per cent. and 39 per cent. by the year 2000. However, the routes south of Edinburgh study concluded that improvements planned on other competing routes will affect the distribution of traffic and that traffic growth on the A1 through the Borders in Scotland will be less than might otherwise be expected.
The study also considered the potential for a transfer of traffic to the route resulting from east coast road improvements. It is likely that the completion of a motorway link to Newcastle will result in an increase of fewer than 1,000 trips per day on the A1 in Scotland by the turn of the century.
These assessments will be monitored by the A1 steering group whose formation I announced recently.