Transport Insights

The transport stories you won't see in the industry-friendly media

Author

Chris Ames

Tag: smart motorways

  • DfT warns of dangers of premature release

    The Department for Transport (DfT) has joined National Highways in refusing my freedom of information request for the 14 evaluations of smart motorway safety that ministers are suppressing, but officials don’t seem keen to claim explicitly that the documents are still trapped in a three-year “assurance” process.

    Neither have they repeated the National Highways line that ministers have to work out how to spin the data in the Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports, which could show that the safety, economic benefits and environmental impact of individual schemes are not great.

    Like the government-owned company, the DfT has withheld the POPEs under Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act, which applies an exemption to information intended for future publication, claiming that “they are intended for publication in the near future”.

    But in making the public interest case for keeping the public in the dark, DfT officials have not said that any kind of assurance process is *actually taking place*:

    Premature release before pre publication checks are carried out could result in inaccurate or misleading information being shared. This would not be in the public interest. Pre-publication procedures, such as verification and full review are essential to ensuring the integrity of the information contained therein.

    We are very much in The Thick of It “this is exactly the sort of thing we should be doing” territory here. Officials may know that these things are not happening in reality.

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  • Lightwood hides behind non-existent process on POPEs

    Hapless roads minister Simon Lightwood continues to own the cover-up over the unpublished evaluation reports on smart motorways, while giving nothing away.

    To recap, the Department for Transport (DfT) is sitting on a total of 14 Post Opening Performance Evaluation (POPE) reports, at least nine of which were due to be completed by National Highways in 2022, and will not allow the government-owned company so publish them.

    This is supposedly while it carries out “assurance”, but National Highways has said it cannot publish the reports until ministers work out how to spin the data.

    Rotherham MP Sarah Champion (pictured, left) has asked two parliamentary questions (so far). The first was:

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with National Highways on Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports; and what her planned timetable is for publication of existing unpublished POPE reports.

    In response to which, Lightwood merely owned the cover-up without answering the question:

    Post opening project evaluation (POPE) reports are detailed and complex evaluations and it is right that we take the time to fully assure findings. We are committed to transparency and will provide an update on publication in due course.

    Champion then asked:

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  • DfT working out how to spin bad news on smart motorway safety

    Update: National Highways has told me that the DfT is sitting on a total of 14 reports. Of these, nine are five years after and five are one year after.

    National Highways has said it will publish the reports on smart motorway performance that the Department for Transport (DfT) has been suppressing for nearly three years once ministers have decided how to spin the “complicated” data.

    As I have reported, ministers called in the Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports, at least nine of which were due to be completed by National Highways in 2022, and have not allowed the government-owned company so publish them, supposedly while it carries out “assurance”.

    The reports could show that individual smart motorway schemes are failing on issues such as safety, the environment and their impact on the economy.

    I asked both National Highways and the DfT to disclose the reports under the Freedom of Information Act but the company has refused under section 22 (1), claiming that it had agreed “a clear route” to publication with the DfT.

    Among other “public interest” reasons for withholding the data it said:

    We have agreed an approximate date for release by DfT pre Christmas 2025 (subject to DfT agreeing the comms handling plan.

    Publication will take place once other specified actions have taken place including briefing of ministers, agreement on a comms plan and final quality assurance.

    It explained that the POPE are “complicated” and that it is in the public interest “that the communication of the results is led by the DfT”.

    Significantly, National Highways added that the safety sections “include further analysis of data that is already in the public domain, and which has been reported on by NH in its annual stocktake and safety reports”.

    Unable to resist spinning the findings even in a supposedly objective balancing exercise, National Highways added:

    The POPE reports support the conclusion already drawn that Smart Motorways are amongst the country’s safest roads.

    This is clearly the DfT’s concern – National Highways can amalgamate data to disguise the fact that individual schemes are less safe than they want to admit but POPE reports are at a scheme level.

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  • National Highways explains suppression of POPE reports

    Highways News has, quite rightly, published a response from National Highways on the issue of the suppressed evaluation reports on smart motorways, and it’s one that subtly makes the case for them to be released.

    Last week, I attended an event at the Department for Transport (DfT), which I have revealed to be sitting on a large number 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.

    The response from National Highways is I think, pretty much what it told me, but very revealing:

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  • More media coverage of POPEs demo

    The brilliant Claire Mercer has posted two TV news reports on yesterday’s demonstration, on the Smart Motorways Kill Facebook feed and YouTube.

    I think both reports give a good explanation of the issue, but by way of a reminder, roads minister Simon Lightwood 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.

    The first is from Fred Dimbleby of ITV’s Calendar:

    And a second from Spencer Stokes of BBC Look North:

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  • MP joins calls for release of POPEs

    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.

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  • Lightwood backs smart motorway cover-up

    The roads minister has backed the continued suppression of a raft of evaluation reports on the safety and effectiveness of smart motorway schemes, some of which were due for publication three years ago.

    I revealed in September that ministers are sitting on a huge amount of data on the controversial schemes, in the form of multiple post opening project evaluation (POPE) reports, including at least nine that were due for completion in 2022.

    Although the reports were produced by National Highways, the Department for Transport (DfT) called them in and has not allowed them to be published, on the grounds that it is “undertaking its final assurance”.

    An event at the DfT tomorrow will highlight the continuing suppression of the reports and call on ministers to release them in the name of transparency.

    The event is a collaboration between myself and Claire Mercer of the Smart Motorways Kill campaign, who wrote to DfT ministers to invite them to attend.

    She has received a reply from Simon Lightwood, as the minister responsible for the strategic network, who has both declined to attend and backed the patently false claim that the reports are still undergoing assurance. He wrote:

    National Highways does evaluate the economic impact after schemes have been operational for five years and we are committed to transparency, but this is a complex process, and it is right that we take the time to fully assure findings. This process is ongoing, and we will provide an update on publication in due course.

    The phrase “in due course” indicates that Lightwood is not even prepared to say when “an update on publication” will be provided, let alone when – or even if – the reports will actually be published.

    In backing this lie, Lightwood has firmly owned the cover-up of what are looking increasingly like very damaging findings.

    The event will take place at the Department for Transport, 33 Horseferry Rd, London, SW1P 4DR at 12:15pm on Wednesday 5 November.

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  • DfT to feel the heat over smart motorway cover-up

    I will be taking part in an event at the Department for Transport on Wednesday to highlight the continuing suppression of evaluation reports on the safety and effectiveness of smart motorways and to call on ministers to release them in the name of transparency.

    I revealed in September that ministers are sitting on a huge amount of data on the controversial schemes, in the form of multiple post opening project evaluation (POPE) reports, including at least nine that were due for completion in 2022.

    When the five-years after POPE on the scheme to convert the M1 between junctions 10 and 13 to dynamic hard shoulder was published in September 2021, it revealed that it had cost the economy £200m instead of a projected benefit of £1bn, because it slowed traffic down. It made national news.

    The event is a collaboration between myself and Claire Mercer of the Smart Motorways Kill campaign, who has done most of the work.

    Confirmed attendees at the event include her MP, Sarah Champion, and crash survivor Jack Gallowtree, as well as representatives from road safety and motoring groups.

    Irrespective of what you think about smart motorways, as the official press release puts it:

    The event’s purpose is to shine a spotlight on the years of delay and lack of transparency surrounding these critical reports. Campaigners are urging the DfT and National Highways to release all outstanding POPE evaluations, answer questions, and ensure that lessons are learned to improve future road safety and infrastructure planning.

    Who could argue with that?

    The event will include a demand to “Release the POPE”, a playful reference to the occasions in the past when the pontiff has been captured, including following the 1527 sack of Rome.

    Expected to be a lot more orderly, it will take place at the Department for Transport, 33 Horseferry Rd, London, SW1P 4DR at 12:15pm on Wednesday 5 November.

    There won’t be fireworks, but we hope ministers will feel the heat over the continued cover-up.

  • AA calls for POPEs to be released

    The AA has picked up on my revelation that the Department for Transport (DfT) is sitting on a large number of post-opening evaluations of smart motorways and suggested that the loss of the hard shoulder may be responsible for an increase in delays on the strategic road network.

    The DfT has published Average delay on the Strategic Road Network in England: monthly and annual averages which shows that the average delay up to June 2025 was 11.6 seconds per mile, up 5.5% in a year.

    The AA said it believes that the impact of smart motorways is now “firmly under the spotlight”, adding that drivers are avoiding lane one through fear of running into a stranded vehicle, which undermines the efficiency and speed of these roads.

    Another reason for increased delays on motorways without a hard shoulder is that they have less resilience when things go wrong.

    Elsewhere on the network, major schemes like the one at Junction 10 of the M25 have continued to cause significant traffic jams.

    The AA also noted my report that several Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports into all lane running schemes have yet to be released, and called for their immediate publication.

    Head of roads policy Jack Cousens said:

    With numerous stretches of so-called smart motorway now in regular use, rather than improving traffic flow it seems to have created more bottlenecks.

    There are several reports about these schemes which have not yet been released by the Department for Transport which would show what, if any, improvements drivers have experienced.

    We need these documents released to understand what traffic flow benefits have been made, alongside a value for money assessment on these motorways drivers perceive as dangerous.

  • Exclusive: Labour blocks smart motorway safety data

    Ministers are sitting on a huge amount of data on the safety and value for money of smart motorway schemes, including at least nine that were due for completion in 2022.

    The concealment of multiple post opening project evaluation (POPE) reports will raise concerns that the government is once again hiding inconvenient facts about the controversial roads, as it did in 2021, when I put pressure on the Department for Transport (DfT) over reports that it was suppressing.

    When the five-years after POPE on the scheme to convert the M1 between junctions 10 and 13 to dynamic hard shoulder was published in September 2021, it revealed that it had cost the economy £200m instead of a projected benefit of £1bn, because it slowed traffic down. It made national news.

    In its Annual Assessment of National Highways’ performance 2021-22, regulator the Office of Rail and Road stated:

    We are scrutinising the company’s POPE publication plan for smart motorway schemes. Nine of these are due to be completed in 2022. In July 2021, the company published the five-year POPE for the M1 junctions 10 to 13 dynamic hard shoulder running scheme.

    That POPE was the last report on a smart motorway to be published, which is unsurprising given how terrible the data was, although aggregated safety data is published separately.

    When I asked National Highways why no more POPE reports had been published, a spokesperson told me:

    We have provided the Department for Transport (DfT) with the smart motorway post opening project evaluation (POPE) reports. These are multiple detailed evaluations of scheme performance and DfT is now in the process of undertaking its final assurance.

    Obviously, for those reports completed in 2022, “undertaking final assurance” means locked in a cupboard.

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