Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effects on traffic flow and congestion of the omission of the planned Junction 7 from the M61; and what representations his Department has received on how to mitigate those effects.

Andrew Jones

The most recent assessment of the M61 was undertaken by the Highways Agency between 2012 and 2015 as part of the South Pennines Route Strategy. This utilised the advice and expertise of local councils and stakeholders. The final report was published in 2015 and is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416749/South_Pennines.pdf.

It identified traffic flow and congestion issues on the M61 where it merges with the M6 to the north and also where it approaches the M60 to the south. However no particular traffic flow and congestion problems were identified between Junctions 6 and 8.

Highways England will revisit the evidence for the M61 as part of preparing the next iteration of Route Strategies.

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