Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the new Lower Thames Crossing on traffic congestion on the (a) A229 (b) A249 (c) M2 Junctions 3, 5 and 7.

Forecasts of traffic impacts across all routes affected by the Lower Thames Crossing including A229, A249 and M2 were included in the economic assessment that informed the selection of the scheme’s preferred route. This appraisal was reported in section 4 of the Post-Consultation Scheme Assessment Report Volume 5.

Highways England are now undertaking more detailed consideration of the traffic impacts of the proposals across the local and wider road network.

This further assessment will inform the detailed design of the scheme and will be published in 2018 ahead of the scheme’s statutory consultation.