§ Tom BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research(a) has been conducted since 1997 and (b) is planned by or for his Department comparing forecast and actual traffic levels for (i) the building of new roads and motorways and (ii) the widening of existing roads and motorways; and if he will place the documentation in the Library. [75015]
§ Mr. JamiesonA programme of comparisons of forecast and actual traffic levels on new trunk road schemes was started in 1981. The latest report on this monitoring work, the tenth in the series, was published in May 2001. I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Libraries of the House.
More detailed post implementation studies have been done on 19 projects; 6 of these have been carried out since 1997. Reports on these studies will be published in the next few months and will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Since August 2001 a new system of project evaluation has replaced the two systems described above. It covers all projects over £ 1 m and it is planned to extend this to smaller projects next year. It involves gathering data on traffic, journey times and accidents, before opening and one and five years after. In addition, an analysis of changes in flows on surrounding local roads at the time of opening is usually carried out for schemes over £5m.