Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

M6, J9-J10 Travel Plan Corridor Scheme

Background to the M6, J9-J10 Corridor Travel Plan

This scheme is the first to adopt the Highways Agency's (HA) new 'Corridor Travel Plan' approach to Influencing Travel Behaviour.  This approach is different to previous work in this area, in that rather than targeting an individual business or individual business park/industrial estate, the 'corridor' takes a broader geographical view in order to work with as many organisations and developments as possible within a certain area. The aim of this new approach is to deliver even more benefits for the Strategic Road Network and its users, in terms of reducing congestion by encouraging modal shift of employees who work in this corridor.  It is envisaged that this technique will be used more widely over the coming months and years.

It is important to note that this work will complement the roll-out of the Managed Motorways initiative.  Through this work the HA, will seek to combine traditional Travel Planning techniques with demand management measures to ease the demand on road space.

Ramp metering at the junctions can expect to become a more permanent fixture as we seek to limit the impact of local trips or junction hopping.

At busy times of the day the M6 experiences high levels of congestion along its length, due partly to the amount of local traffic on the route. The M6 Toll Road was opened to relieve some of this congestion but there is still a need to ensure that future developments in the area are managed in a way that reduces the amount of extra traffic using the M6. A great deal can be done with existing employers to reduce their impact and to adopt a travel demand management approach.

The area between junctions 9 and 10 is characterised by a mixture of residential and employment/industry with one of IKEA's large furniture superstores being located roughly half way between the two junctions, a major attractor of traffic. Any area wide travel plan must involve IKEA and the other large employers in the area in order that the plan will work. Previous experience of dealing with IKEA in developing their travel plans in Bristol, Nottingham and Leeds through the DfT/Energy Savings Trust Advice Programme will be invaluable in persuading IKEA to become an integral part of the Travel Plan.

M6 - Context

The M6 runs through a number of District Councils.  All will need to be involved in the evolution of the travel plan.  The individual Local Authority Travel Plan Co-ordinators will be fully engaged in order to benefit from their knowledge of the area and the companies that are located in the area. The primary local authorities identified are Sandwell Metropolitan Council, Walsall Council and Birmingham City Council.  Centro, the integrated transport authority, will be a key stakeholder.

Throughout the life cycle of this scheme, business interests in the following sectors will be consulted widely:

• Retail (including events)
• Industrial (Light and major industry)
• Leisure/sport  (including events)
• Residential
• School
• Workplace/Employer Commuter
• Freight/Warehousing and Logistics sector
• Public transport
• Sites requiring travel plans via the planning process

Timescales

The project, which commenced in November 2008, is expected to run through 2009/10 in the run up to applying a full monitoring exercise to evaluate results during the following year.