Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 16383, what assessment his Department has made of the levels of traffic flow and congestion within Horwich arising from the decision not to construct Junction 7 on the M61.

Andrew Jones

As Horwich lies within the Metropolitan Borough Council of Bolton, it is for Bolton Council, as the traffic authority for the area, working with TfGM, to consider the traffic flows within Horwich. The decision not to build Junction 7 was taken in the 1960s, but Highways England will re-assess the pressures on and needs of the M61 along with all other parts of the strategic road network in the course of its future development of route strategies. When the next round of Highways England’s Route Strategies commences early in 2016, there will be an opportunity to make the case for the creation of a Junction 7.