Roads: Closures

House of Lords written question – answered at on 27 June 2012.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord Hylton Lord Hylton Crossbench

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many separate sections of public highway are at present fully closed in (1) England, (2) Scotland, and (3) Wales.

Photo of Earl Attlee Earl Attlee Lords Spokesperson (Department for Transport), Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Highways Agency is responsible for the strategic road network in England, which includes motorways and some major A roads. The following web link provides information on current and future events on the strategic road network, as well as how to obtain information with respect to significant scheduled closures: http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic/7936.aspx.

While every effort is made to ensure that this information is up-to-date, unscheduled works may need to be undertaken urgently and occasionally planned works may need to be rescheduled at very short notice.

In addition, Traffic England provides live traffic information covering England's motorways and major A roads, available at: http://www.trafficengland.com/index.aspx.

For local roads in England, the department does not hold information centrally on road closures as this is a matter for each individual local highway authority. All road closures require a traffic regulation order to be issued by the authority, except where there is a need to close the road due to an emergency when there is an immediate danger to the public, such as road subsidence or due to dangerous buildings.

DirectGov does provide a search engine for users to search for information about road closures and diversions by individual local authority. This is available at the following web link: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/homeand community/whereyoulive/streetsparkingcleaningand lighting/dg_10028508.

Roadwork information for Wales and Scotland is a matter for the respective devolved Administrations.

In addition, there are commercial organisations which provide information on closures and roadworks around the country via websites combining data from different sources, including the Highways Agency, Transport for London and many local highways authorities.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes1 person thinks so

No1 person thinks not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.