Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Accepted
The Government and National Highways should pause the rollout of all-lane running motorways to collect...
Recommendation
The Government and National Highways should pause the rollout of all-lane running motorways to collect more data, to upgrade and then evaluate the safety of existing all-lane running schemes and to consider alternative options for enhancing capacity on the Strategic Road Network. The Government and National Highways should pause the rollout of new all-lane running schemes until: • five years of safety and economic data is available for every all-lane running scheme introduced before 2020; and • the implementation of the safety improvements in the Government’s action plan has been independently evaluated. (Paragraph 43) 26 Rollout and safety of smart motorways
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees with the recommendation and will pause the conversion of seven Dynamic Hard Shoulder schemes to All-Lane Running motorways until the next Road Investment Strategy. They will consider alternative operating approaches, continue data collection on safety performance, and install further safety measures on existing DHS motorways.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
31. The Government agrees with this recommendation. Evaluating the safety and economic impact of all schemes post opening is an integral part of ensuring we are delivering the benefits expected from investing in infrastructure. There are already comprehensive evaluation plans in place for both ALR and Dynamic Hard Shoulder (DHS) schemes. 32. National Highways produces Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports as part of the evaluation of all major projects, including ALR and DHS schemes, when one- year data and five-year data is available. This will apply to all ALR and DHS schemes already open as well as those in construction. Work is already underway on publishing this information, with National Highways having published POPEs and safety reviews for seven schemes since April 2021. 33. The Department will continue to work with National Highways and the ORR to further improve the data and insight that POPE reports provide to better understand safety on the SRN and the wider economic impact of the investment. 34. We also recognise users’ perception of safety for ALR and DHS schemes is critical in terms of their acceptability. As such we will continue to work with National Highways and Transport Focus to consider how the Strategic Roads User Survey (SRUS) can be used to understand road user journey experiences and satisfaction. We will also work with Transport Focus to consider the benefits of more focused research to provide greater insight on safety perception. 35. Alongside the collection of additional data and evaluation of the safety and economic impact of existing ALR and DHS schemes, alternative options for enhancing capacity on the SRN will also be considered. This will be carried out as part of the preparation of the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3), which will set the SRN programme and National Highways priorities for 2025–30. As part of that process, the Government is committed to a careful assessment of how to improve the performance of the SRN in all aspects, based on robust data and evidence. At this time, National Highways is collecting evidence and stakeholder views through its Route Strategies consultation where all users of, and those impacted by, the SRN, can make their voices heard on future priorities. There will be further consultation on the developing RIS3 programme in 2022.
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