asked Her Majesty's Government:
What has been the increase or decrease in traffic congestion (a) on outer-urban roads, and (b) in urban areas, since 1997. [HL3812]
Information on trends in congestion is available for England for (a) the strategic road network (inter-urban roads) and for (b) the 10 largest urban areas.
(a) Inter-urban roads
Provisional figures for the PSA1 target year ending March 2008 show that average vehicle delay on the slowest 10 per cent of journeys on motorways and trunk roads in England has risen from 3.78 to 3.95 minutes per 10 miles since the baseline year ending July 2005, an increase of 4.4 per cent. This covers a period of 32 months and represents an annual increase of 1.6 per cent.
These figures represent average daytime delays (6 am to 8 pm) on the 91 routes currently used for monitoring performance on the strategic road network. Figures are presented on a rolling year basis. Delay is calculated as the difference between observed journey time and a reference journey time (the time that could theoretically be achieved when the traffic is free flowing).
(b) Urban areas
Traffic congestion in urban areas is measured by “person journey time per mile” for the 10 largest urban areas in England: London, the six metropolitan areas (Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire) and Bristol, Leicester and Nottingham. The table “person journey times (minutes per mile)” shows the increase or decrease in traffic congestion.
Year LO GM ME SY TW WM4 WY BR LE NO ALL 2004-05 3.65 4.83 3.94 3.86 3.15 3.65 3.83 3.75 4.27 3.80 3.85 2006-07 3.52 4.67 3.77 3.74 3.12 3.57 3.91 3.73 4.22 3.86 3.75 Percentage change -3.5 -3.4 -4.3 -3.0 -1.0 -2.3 2.2 -0.4 -1.3 1.6 -2.4
LO London, GM Greater Manchester, ME Merseyside, SY South Yorkshire, TW Tyne & Wear, WM West Midlands, WY West Yorkshire, BR Bristol, LE Leicester, NO Nottingham, ALL weighted average of the 10 largest urban areas.
Data are not available for inter-urban roads or urban areas for years earlier than those shown. All these data were published on 8 May 2008 in Road Traffic and Congestion in Great Britain: Quarter 1 2008 at www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatables publications/roadstraffic/traffic/qbtrafficgb /2008/q108.