Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Deferred
Paragraph: 44
Dynamic hard shoulder motorways apparently confuse drivers, because the hard shoulder is used unpredictably to...
Recommendation
Dynamic hard shoulder motorways apparently confuse drivers, because the hard shoulder is used unpredictably to tackle congestion. A more consistent approach, where the hard shoulder is used at known times, could clarify the situation for drivers without physically removing the hard shoulder. The Department for Transport and National Highways should pause plans to convert dynamic hard shoulder motorways until the next Road Investment Strategy and use the intervening period to trial alternative ways in which to operate the dynamic hard shoulder to make the rules less confusing for drivers.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees with the recommendation and commits to revisiting the case for controlled motorways compared to all-lane running motorways. An initial report comparing business cases will be published later this year, with updates as further data becomes available.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
44
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
36. The Government agrees with this recommendation and will pause the conversion of seven DHS schemes to ALR until the next Road Investment Strategy, so that alternative operating approaches can be considered. 37. A key action in the Stocktake and Action Plan was to convert DHS schemes to ALR as their removal would simplify the types of motorways on the network and would reduce the potential for driver confusion. The Committee’s recommendation however suggests that there is merit in re-examining the model to see if there are alternative ways of operating them. 38. We will consider alternative ways in which to operate the DHS motorways, including, but not limited to, having set operating hours so that motorists can become familiar with the operation of the road. We will also continue to collect data and analyse the safety performance of DHS motorways to help inform our thinking. This will be a priority action for National Highways, and we plan to report back to the Committee on this later this year. 39. At the same time, we will continue to invest in these motorways and have asked National Highways to install further safety measures were DHS motorways are in operation. This includes incorporating enhancements from the Stocktake and Action Plan, such as SVD technology, central reservation improvements and the enhancements to EA visibility and signage.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗