15 May 2007.

STAFFORD’S MP PRESSES FOR MORE MOTORWAY HARD SHOULDERS TO BE RUNNING LANES

Stafford’s Labour MP David Kidney is asking Questions in Parliament to make the case for more use of motorway hard shoulders as extra lanes at key congestion times. The MP has previously investigated the safety aspect of “hard shoulder running” and believes that a recent trial on the M42 shows that it is safe.

The MP’s written questions have been answered by the Roads Minister, Dr. Stephen Ladyman MP, and David Kidney says that the answers show that hard shoulder running has a role to play in tackling congestion:

“The M42 pilot scheme combines hard shoulder running with a whole range of improvements under the title of “Active Traffic Management”. This involves many more overhead gantries carrying information for drivers, new emergency refuge areas, constant monitoring from a control centre via cameras and patrolling by Traffic Officers.

“The M42 pilot has only been in operation for a little over 6 months. In this time, there have been no incidents that can be attributed to the pilot scheme’s operation. However, the Minister says that the Highways Agency needs 3 years of data before pronouncing finally on the safety of the scheme.

“My view is that we should start planning for an extension of this scheme to the other motorways around Birmingham. Some of the country’s greatest road congestion occurs on these motorways and we should act as quickly as possible to make full use of modern technologies to keep the traffic moving.

“That is why I continue to press for hard shoulder running in more locations where it can physically be installed and for as many of the other aspects of Active Traffic Management as we can implement as soon as possible”.