Highways Agency says M606 2+ lane near Bradford will be suspended for 18 months

The Government agency says that the suspension of the southbound lane at the Chain Bar junction with the M62 will enable traffic monitoring works to be carried out due to congestion and safety issues.

The works are expected to start at 12.01am on Monday, October 1. A previous 18-month suspension has only just come to an end.

The effect of the order will be to suspend regulations prohibiting the use of a motor vehicle, taxi, goods and heavy goods commercial vehicle with less than two people including the driver using the car share lane.

The 2km-long lane connects the nearside lane of the M606 southbound carriageway with the nearside lane of the M62 eastbound carriageway, thus bypassing Chain Bar roundabout and its traffic lights. It was opened in March 2008.

In a statement a spokesperson for Highways England said: “The 2+ lane was suspended 18 months ago to ease congestion in the area and while we continue to monitor the traffic flows at the junction the 2+ lane will be suspended for a further 18 months.”

But Bradford councillor Martin Love (Green, Shipley) said the move was a retrograde step at the time of growing traffic volumes and pollution.

He said: “Having suspended it already why does it need three years?

“The explanation doesn’t seem convincing.

“Having that lane was a nudge factor for motorists. Installing it was a positive step, suspending it is a retrograde step.

“It will have a knock-on effect to Bradford, Leeds and Kirklees.”

He said more could have been done to increase the use of the lane.

He added: “We need clear advertising to make it clear why it exists.

“Whatever small steps we take, the growth in traffic knocks us back. Until we get an affordable public transport system, it will be difficult to see any difference.”

Improvements to the M606/M62 junction were included in Highways England’s £15 billion road upgrade plan announced last October but without any date for works to start.

The agency document says: “People travelling around the Chain Bar Interchange area experience severe delays when travelling between Leeds and Bradford on the M62 and M606. The growth expected in housing and businesses for this region will mean more vehicles are on these roads. As such we predict that these issues will only increase in the future if we do not act.”

As to the aim of the scheme it says: “We’re designing this improvement project to deliver greater benefits for road users and local communities, and to support the region’s economy.”

Once completed the project will:

* reduce queuing times at the interchange

* make journeys safer by improving the standard and capacity of the road, which will reduce the risk of accidents

* support economic growth by providing additional road capacity and allowing the opportunity to release additional land for development.

The agency says the Chain Bar scheme will be reconsidered as part of future road investment planning as it needs further development before it can demonstrate value for money.

A 2+ lane on the southbound A650 Wakefield Road was a previous abortive scheme to cut congestion. It opened in March 2011 and was aimed at easing the infamous Tong Street bottleneck but was scrapped in 2013.

The two-plus lane along the southbound A650 was installed with the hope it would speed up rush-hour bus journeys and prompt people to share cars.

Council transport officers claimed it could slash travel times by up to 12 minutes for vehicles using the car-share lane, and eight minutes for those not using the lane.

But a report to a joint meeting of the Bradford South and East Area Committees showed that average times for all vehicles were actually one minute 13 seconds longer than before.

It also revealed the number of people sharing cars had stayed the same and 30 per cent of vehicles using the high-occupancy lane were doing so illegally.