§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidance he has given to the Highways Agency on how to take account, in framing the A40/M40 management strategy, of(a) the environment impact of the motorway on people living in South Buckinghamshire and (b> Wycombe district council's air quality management strategy. [187370]
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§ Mr. JamiesonThe Highways Agency follows a consistent approach for all route management strategies whereby the problems and issues of a route are grouped under five main categories, one of which is environment. Issues such as noise and air quality are considered within this category.
Wycombe district council's air quality management area is recorded in the M40/A40 draft route management strategy. Wycombe's air quality action plan includes a number of measures to improve air quality, two of which directly involve the Highways Agency. Layout changes to the Handy Cross junction are already in the targeted programme of improvements for the agency and the draft route management strategy contains possible options to reduce future traffic volumes on the M40.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of people who live up to(a) 50 metres, (b) 100 metres, (c) 250 metres and (d) 500 metres from the M40 between junctions 3 and 6. [187372]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Highways Agency do not hold figures for the n umber of people who live within 50, 100, 250 and 500 metres of the M40 between junctions 3 and 6.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the accident rate per number of vehicles on the M40 between(a) junctions 3 and 4, (b) junctions 4 and 5 and (c) junctions 5 and 6. [187373]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Highways Agency publishes accident rates per million vehicle kilometres travelled. On this basis the accident rates for the three sections of the M40 are as follows:
Accident rate (a) Junctions 3 to 4 0.129 (b) Junction 4 to 5 0.047 (c) Junctions to 6 0.125 These rates have been calculated using accident data for the last five years.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents there have been in each of the last five years on the M40 between(a) junctions 3 and 4, (b) junctions 4 and 5 and (c) junctions 5 and 6. [187374]
§ Mr. JamiesonFor each of the last five years, the following injury accidents have been recorded on the M40.
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1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Junction 3 to 4 Fatal 3 0 0 0 0 Serious 7 5 7 3 6 Slight 21 17 25 21 19 Junction 4 to 5 Fatal 0 2 0 1 0 Serious 4 2 3 1 4 Slight 17 15 21 20 10 Junction 5 to 6 Fatal 0 1 0 0 0 Serious 3 2 2 3 2 Slight 11 17 10 17 16
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his latest estimate is of the average daily flow of traffic on the M40 between junctions 3 and 6. [187375]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe latest annual average daily traffic flows for each section of the M40 motorway between junctions 3 and 6 were collected in 2003 and are shown in the following the table:
Motorway section Combined Northbound and Southbound traffic flows (vehicles) Junctions 3 to 4 101,812 Junctions 4 to 5 93,036 Junctions 5 to 6 92,923
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions in each of the last five years traffic has been diverted off the M40 at Junction 5 or 6 to travel along the A40 through Stokenchurch. [187381]
§ Mr. JamiesonFor the five-year period in question, no formal diversions have been implemented by the Highways Agency that required traffic to be diverted off the M40 at Junction 5 or 6 to travel along the A40 through Stokenchurch.