MANAGED MOTORWAYS: A CHANGE IN POLICY EQUALS A REDUCTION IN CARBON

摘要

There has been a significant shift in policy on how motorway capacity is to be increased in England. The successful implementation and operation of a trial which dynamically utilises the hard shoulder as a running lane during periods of congestion has led to this shift in Government policy. c546km of new hard shoulder running is expected to be implemented or be in construction by 2015. This paper focuses on the potential reduction in carbon footprint resulting from this policy change, comparing the CO_2 cost of implementing hard shoulder running against widening over the same length. Analysis has indicated that this alternative intervention could result in a reduction of c850,000 tonnes of carbon over a carriageway length of 546Km.