Birmingham Northern Relief Road (Hansard, 6 May 1994)

§ Mr. Key

The question relates to matters which are the responsibility of the Highways Agency; the chief executive will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Dr. Tony Wright, dated 5 May 1994: You asked the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of (a) northbound and (b) southbound traffic on the A34-A5 corridor parallel to the proposed Birmingham Northern Relief Road is long distance; and what is the total amount of traffic on the Birmingham Northern Relief Road that is expected to be long distance in 1996 and 2011. As this is an operational matter for the Highways Agency, I have been asked to reply. The Traffic Model used by Midland Expressway Limited indicates that there are negligible numbers of vehicles using the A34 from Walsall to Churchbridge which then pass along the A5 to either Gailey (M6 J12) or Weeford. This model provides the basis for the traffic figures included in the Statement of Reasons for this scheme, a copy of which was sent to you recently. Full documentation of the model was published in February and is available to the public. I can arrange for a summary to be sent if you require one. But the A34/A5 route is not a close parallel to BNRR and you may be interested in traffic flows on the A38/A5 route which does more closely parallel the Birmingham Northern Relief Road. Current daily traffic flows in the A38-A5 corridor vary between 25,000 and 50,000 vehicles a day depending on which sector is looked at. Only a small proportion, some 2,750 vehicles, travelling over the entire length between Bassetts Pole and Churchbridge have an origin and a destination beyond the corridor. Of this traffic approximately 1,250 vehicles are southbound, 1,500 northbound. Long distance traffic which uses other trunk routes into this corridor, and which could use BNRR for part of its journey, is also present; for instance vehicles travelling from north of Fazeley to Churchbridge and beyond. Should BNRR be built, two way flows of through trips (that is traffic between with an origin and destination outside the conurbation) are estimated at 19,500 vehicles per day in 1996 rising to some 33,000 per day in 2011. More details of traffic flows are given in the Statement of Reasons. There are no known material differences in flows between northbound and southbound traffic although at peak hours there will be considerable differences in the local flows and hence in the proportions of traffic represented by these long-range vehicles.