Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80-99)
MR ARCHIE
ROBERTSON OBE, HIGHWAYS
AGENCY
8 DECEMBER 2004
Q80 Mr Bacon: None on the M11?
Mr Robertson: I cannot tell you
right now whether we have plans for the M11, but we will look
into that. We are planning to do a trial on the M42, which would
test the effects of restricting trucks to the inner of the two
lanes and therefore not permitting them to overtake each other,
and we are currently consulting on that trial.
Q81 Mr Bacon: So you have not started
the trial; you are consulting on the trial, presumably with consultants?
Mr Robertson: With people like
the Freight Transport Association, who are going to take a little
bit of persuading, of course, but we believe there is a case to
try.
Q82 Mr Bacon: When do you expect this
trial will (a) be completed and (b) you will have evaluated the
results of it?
Mr Robertson: I do not know that
for the moment. We are only at the consultant stage. I have not
seen a timetable.
Q83 Mr Bacon: Give me a rough guess.
Do you think it will be 2026 or some time before that?
Mr Robertson: I think it will
be before that.
Q84 Mr Bacon: When?
Mr Robertson: Assuming that we
get to a position that we want to go ahead, and the police have
to enforce it and things like that, there are those other parties,
this is something that can be done in a number of months, with
a good before and after analysis.
Q85 Mr Bacon: So when would you expect
it to be completed by?
Mr Robertson: I do not have a
date.
Q86 Mr Bacon: If I understand you correctly,
when you just said "assuming we decide to go ahead",
you mean if you decide to do this trial which you have not yet
done. Is that what you are saying?
Mr Robertson: If we get the cooperation
to go ahead, then we will go ahead and do the trial.
Q87 Mr Bacon: From whom do you need cooperation
before you decide to go ahead?
Mr Robertson: The police.
Q88 Mr Bacon: The police, and it is not
clear whether you are going to get the cooperation of the police?
Mr Robertson: I do not know right
now. I am optimistic about this trial. I would like to see it
done. I know it is difficult for traffic flow and for people's
convenience when they get stuck behind traffic going up hills.
There may be an opportunity here to tackle this with a good prospect
much quicker than we would otherwise have been able to do it by
putting in crawler lanes.
Q89 Mr Bacon: The overall gist of this
report is that you are risk-averse, unadventurous, and very slow
to take up ideas, and your answers on this particular point give
the same sense of a lack of drive and urgency, as was the central
criticism in this report. The question that most people who use
the M11, certainly I as a user of the M11, ask is when are you
just going to stop faffing around and deal with it? It is obvious
to most people what is needed, is it not?
Mr Robertson: I have more good
projects I can do than I have resources.
Q90 Mr Bacon: I wanted to come on to
this point, because you did say that earlier. How much do you
need in the way of resources? I gather from talking to our clerk
that one of the questions is signage but actually, to implement
something like this, what resources do you really need? You need
a clear position in law, do you not?
Mr Robertson: Yes.
Q91 Mr Bacon: You need the truckers to
understand that if they break the law, there are consequences.
That does not require a huge amount of resources, does it?
Mr Robertson: That is why I am
optimistic and attracted by it.
Q92 Mr Bacon: Good. I am glad. Could
I ask you to turn to figure 6 on page 23. The agency ran a trial
on the M25 on variable speed limits. I wonder if you could clarify
the amount of expenditure. Figure 6 says that for that site you
had a budget of £10 million and actually spent £11.2
million, although my brief says £14 million. How much have
you actually spent on variable speed limits at the site on the
M25?
Mr Robertson: Our spend to date
is £11.2 million. I think the £14 million may be the
potential total for this trial.
Q93 Mr Bacon: You mean by the time you
have completed it?
Mr Robertson: Yes, by the time
we get it back, because we are also doing a significant amount
of work on road works on this section.
Q94 Mr Bacon: Do you think this £14
million at one site is good value for money?
Mr Robertson: I think it has been
good value for money to establish the principle of what we should
be doing next, which is when we widen the M1 and the M25 and on
other roads whether we put the variable speed limit facilities
in at the same time and save a lot of money.
Q95 Mr Bacon: Why did it cost £14
million to establish that?
Mr Robertson: If you go round
there, you will see that there are frequent gantries, the overhead
structures that have to be put in place. Then signage has to be
put in place. The digital enforcement cameras have to be put behind.
The detectors have to be put in the road in order to monitor the
traffic speeds, and then a controller has to be there to manage
the traffic and decide when to cut it down from 60 to 50, say,
when traffic is building up. That is the kit that you buy.
Q96 Mr Bacon: How much does one of those
big signs—I presume you are talking about those big "L"
signs that have a pole coming out of the side and a big rectangular
sign coming across the road. That is what you are talking about?
Mr Robertson: We call it a gantry.
On the M25, it will go right across the road and the signs hang
from that. The signs you are talking about are not part of the
variable speed limits. They are information signs.
Q97 Mr Bacon: Let us stick with the signs
that you are talking about. How much does one of those signs cost?
Mr Robertson: I cannot tell you
right away, but it is several hundred thousand pounds by the time
it is designed, has its structure put in and traffic management
put in place to enable it to be . . .
Q98 Mr Bacon: How many did you have all
together on this site on the M25?
Mr Robertson: That is also a very
good question. It is in the tens round that, so 30 or 40, I would
think. I cannot give you an accurate figure.
Q99 Mr Bacon: Thirty or forty, at several
hundred thousand pounds each. How did you only spend £14
million?
Mr Robertson: I just do not know
what the exact numbers are. I am happy to give you a note.
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