Transport Insights

A Labour MP joined campaigners outside the office of the Department for Transport (DfT) today, calling for suppressed reports on the impact of smart motorway schemes to be released.

The event was a collaboration between myself and Claire Mercer of the Smart Motorways Kill campaign and aimed to highlight the fact that the DfT is refusing to release a raft of Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports on smart motorways, which would reveal their record on issues such as safety, value for money and environmental impact.

It generated a significant amount of attention, with Mercer interviewed by local and national media, telling them that she aimed to “shame” ministers into taking action.

According to a 2022 report by National Highways’ regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), nine POPE reports were due to be completed that year alone. It is not known how many have been compiled since.

Both National Highways and the ORR have blamed ministers for the failure to make the reports public, with the DfT claiming that the reports are still undergoing an “assurance” process.

Sarah Champion, Member of Parliament for Rotherham, who is Mercer’s MP, also attended the demonstration, at which a banner demanding “Release the Pope” was held up at the entrance to the DfT’s offices.

As I wrote yesterday, Mercer, whose husband Jason was killed on a smart motorway section of the M1 in 2019, invited ministers to join the event but none did. Roads minister Simon Littlewood wrote to her, claiming that the DfT was taking “the time to fully assure findings” a process he described as “ongoing”.

In fact, the DfT has no formal role in POPE reports, which are produced by National Highways, but insists on clearing all information on smart motorway before it is published. Many other POPE reports have been published since the last report on a smart motorway was published in 2021.

That report, on the M1 junctions 10 to 13 smart motorway, was also only published after pressure from MPs. It found that the scheme was projected to cost the economy £200m, compared to a promised £1bn boost. The five-year after report for the scheme has not been published.

Another report, a one year after report on the M3 junctions 2 to 4a scheme, was published earlier in 2021. It found that the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from the scheme was nearly double what was anticipated. The follow up five-year report has not been published.

Another five-years after report that the DfT appears to be suppressing covers the section of road where Jason Mercer was killed – the M1 junctions 28 to to 35a, where a one-year after report was also published in 2021.