§ Lord Bradshawasked Her Majesty's Government;
What research has been carried out in the past five years into road congestion; and with what results. [H L6270]
§ Lord Macdonald of Tradeston:The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Highways Agency have undertaken a range of work on the impacts of their policies on the levels of road traffic, including their effects on congestion. The results of this research have fed into DfT's modelling of the transport network, leading to more confident forecasts of congestion. In particular, in 2001 DfT commissioned work on public perceptions of congestion. This was published last year and a copy is available in the House Library.
DfT has recently let a contract to examine the potential for new methods of congestion measurement which it is hoped will improve our coverage of congestion levels at a more detailed level. It should also capture information about aspects of congestion, such as travel time variability, which are not covered by our current measure.