---

M6 Capacity

On the 6 July last year the Secretary of State announced a consultation on the issue of building a new expressway to run parallel with the M6 between Birmingham and Manchester as an alternative to the widening proposal announced to the House in December 2002. The consultation, which sought views on whether the Highways Agency should carry out more detailed development work and a feasibility study, closed on 21 October 2004. Approximately 9,500 responses from a range of stakeholders were analysed. A breakdown of the responses has been placed in the Library of the House. The M6 is an important transport artery linking the midlands and the north-west. An investment of £7.6 billion has been made to upgrade the west coast main line, part of which runs through this artery. However, the Government have accepted the need for more road capacity, as shown by the midlands to Manchester multi-modal study. The issue is how best that capacity can be provided taking full account of the impact of construction—through a widening scheme, or via an expressway running broadly parallel to the existing route. Providing additional capacity to the M6 between Birmingham and Manchester, whether in the form of widening the existing motorway or a tolled expressway, will require a huge investment. It is vital that we examine the options carefully and choose the right way to provide the capacity needed. The Secretary of State has considered the views expressed in the consultation. While it is clear that there is no consensus in favour of the expressway proposition, the option is no more than an outline at this stage. More evidence on the widening and expressway propositions is needed before a decision on a preferred option can be taken. I have therefore asked the Highways Agency to carry out detailed development work on the expressway and a feasibility study to compare the impacts of the costs and benefits of the expressway with those of widening. Both expressway and widening options will be worked up in parallel. The next stage is a decision on which option to take to public inquiry, following further consultation on the options. I have asked the Highways Agency to provide further advice with a view to taking that decision next year. Whichever option is chosen, the financial, economic and environmental appraisal work to be carried out over the coming year will be required before we can publish draft orders setting out our proposals. The Highways Agency will consult and work with local stakeholders and the statutory environmental agencies during the detailed development work. The work on widening will examine the technological and physical practicalities of locking in the benefits of that additional capacity. This will involve considering a number of measures, which could be used individually or in combination, such as access management; segregated lanes for priority traffic; speed controls; and pricing on the new capacity. The expressway would take around a year longer to bring to public inquiry than the widening proposal, because of the need to appoint a concessionaire. However, this additional time would be made up during construction, because the expressway would be built alongside the existing motorway. In contrast, widening the existing motorway would involve extensive traffic management during construction, which would lengthen the construction timescales by about a year. Our current best estimate is that work on the widening scheme could start on the ground in 2011 with the scheme opening to traffic in 2016; and that work on the expressway could start on the ground in 2012 with the scheme opening to traffic in 2016. This is in line with the estimated delivery date of the widening as reported by the midlands to Manchester multi-modal study.