Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) cars and (b) HGVs that will use the Dartford Crossing in the next (i) year, (ii) five years and (iii) 10 years.

Highways England is continuously reviewing the performance of the Dartford Crossing following the introduction of the Dart Charge scheme in 2014 and as part of the wider strategic road network.

As part of its options works for the Lower Thames Crossing, Highways England carried out a traffic modelling assessment and traffic flow forecasts were produced for the Dartford Crossing for the next (iii) 10 years, until 2025 (the proposed scheme opening year), and 2041 (the scheme design year) as set out in the consultation materials. This included the number of light vehicles (cars) and heavy goods vehicles.

The annual average daily traffic flow at the Dartford Crossing is forecast to rise from 140,000 vehicles in 2014 to 159,300 vehicles in 2025. Of this daily total 130,700 are (a) light vehicle and 28,600 and (b) heavy goods vehicles.