§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the decision to open a hard shoulder on the M42 to ease congestion. [125515]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe then Minister for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Warley (Mr. Spellar), announced on 27 July 2001 that the M42 between Junctions 3a and 7 had been chosen as a pilot site for Active Traffic Management (ATM). The pilot will provide useful data and experience about a range of existing and new traffic management measures. This will include part-time use of the hard shoulder as a running lane for traffic at peak periods and at other times when there has been an incident, but only under carefully controlled conditions.