Summary of The Provisions to be Included In The M9/A90/M90 Trunk Road (Humbie Rail Bridge to M9 Junction 1a) (Variable Speed Limits and Actively Managed Hard Shoulder) Regulations 2012 and The M9/A9 Trunk Road (Newbridge to Winchburgh) (Variable Speed Limits and Actively Managed Hard Shoulder) Regulations 2012

Background to the Regulations

The proposed M9/A90/M90 Trunk Road (Humbie Rail Bridge to M9 Junction 1a) (Variable Speed Limits and Actively Managed Hard Shoulder) Regulations 2012 and M9/A9 Trunk Road (Newbridge to Winchburgh) (Variable Speed Limits and Actively Managed Hard Shoulder) Regulations 2012("the 2012 Regulations") will regulate the use of part of the M9 Spur and M9 which are being improved as part of the Forth Replacement Crossing project.

Construction of the Forth Replacement Crossing project was authorised with the Bill for the Forth Crossing Act 2011 being passed by the Scottish Parliament on 15th December 2010 and subsequently receiving Royal Assent on 20th January 2011. Consultation on the project was previously undertaken in 2009 as part of the consultations required for the Bill. The Policy Memorandum which was produced for the Bill advised that the project would include an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) and that the powers to operate the ITS would be pursued by means of existing legislation. Paragraphs 17 and 23 of the Policy Memorandum which was produced for the Bill are of particular relevance to the 2012 Regulations and are reproduced below for ease of reference.

17. To enable the proposed scheme to operate effectively, orders, such as traffic regulation orders in respect of the operation of the Intelligent Transport Systems and public transport links, will be required. These orders will be pursued by means of existing legislation.

23. In preference to increasing the extent of road construction and refurbishment, Intelligent Transport System (ITS) technology will be deployed along the route from the M90 Halbeath Junction over the crossing to the M9. This will improve traffic flow, reduce congestion and improve road safety. ITS can operate on roads under existing legislation through the application of traffic orders made by the Scottish Ministers and therefore the Bill only seeks to acquire the land and undertake the works necessary to provide the physical apparatus for the system. To facilitate the operation of ITS and provide for a single authority to maintain control over the full extent of road linking the M9 to the M90 the Bill provides for the transfer of local authority roads to the Scottish Ministers.

The 2012 Regulations will be the second of a series of Regulations to be put in place to give Ministers the powers to operate the ITS and are to be put in place using existing powers in the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

Regulations were previously made on 16 May 2012 covering variable speed limits and actively managed hard shoulder for sections of the M90, A823(M) and M9 Spur. Consultation on those regulations was undertaken from 18 January 2012 to 10 April 2012 and a separate consultation report was prepared. The report is available on the Transport Scotland website at http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/road/projects/forth-replacement-crossing/project-library/construction-plans-and-reports+. All responses were considered in finalising the previous regulations.

Provisions to be included in the Regulations

Variable Speed Limits

Variable speed limits keep traffic moving by controlling the flow of vehicles when a road is congested. As traffic levels increase, lower speed limits reduce the build up of traffic and resulting negative effects on traffic flow. It is therefore intended that the Regulations will make provision for mandatory variable speed limits which will be indicated by means of signing above the road provided on gantries and signing in the verge. The variable speed limits will apply over the following sections of road:

M9 Spur - on both the northbound and southbound carriageways between Humbie Rail Bridge where the M9 Spur crosses the Falkirk to Fife Railway Line and M9 Junction 1a.
M9 - on the southbound carriageway from Winchburgh to Newbridge Junction, including the southbound off-slip road at Newbridge Junction.

Traffic flow and speed on the M9 Spur and M9 will be monitored by detectors in the road and the data will be transmitted to the Traffic Scotland Control Centre to allow the speed limits to be changed if necessary. CCTV cameras will also be located at each gantry along the road to allow the operation of the road to be monitored by control centre personnel and support the operation of the mandatory variable speed limits.

Failure to comply with those speed limits will be an offence as these Regulations are to be made under section 17 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, subsection (4) of which makes it an offence to fail to comply with Regulations made under that section.

It is possible that a lower speed limit may be set when vehicles are at or close to a gantry and that those vehicles may not be able to reduce their speed sufficiently to comply with the lower speed limit when passing the gantry. This issue was identified by the Department for Transport when they put similar Regulations in place in England and they addressed this in their Regulations by not applying the lower speed limit to a vehicle if that vehicle passed below the relevant gantry within ten seconds of the lower speed limit being applied. It is proposed to take the same approach to this issue in the 2012 Regulations.

Use of Actively Managed Hard Shoulder

The M9 Spur and M9 Motorways currently have hard shoulders. It is proposed that the 2012 Regulations will allow use of the hard shoulder on the southbound carriageway of the M9 Spur, continuing on to the hard shoulder of the southbound carriageway of the M9 to Newbridge Junction by specified buses, effectively turning part of the length of the hard shoulder into a bus lane. It is intended that the bus lane will be a full time, permanent bus lane. As is explained below the operation of the bus lane is such that it will be a bus lane provided on the hard shoulder of the road.

A schedule will be included in the 2012 Regulations to make clear the sections of the M9 Spur and M9 over which use of the hard shoulder by buses will be permitted. Signing, as shown below, will be provided adjacent to the road indicating that buses may use the bus lane and the signing will indicate to drivers the start and end of the lane.

Sign indicating start of bus lane

Sign indicating end of bus lane

The Motorways Traffic (Scotland) Regulations 1995 ("the 1995 Regulations") regulate the use of all special roads which are motorways. They include general provisions regarding the use of hard shoulders on motorways. The 2012 Regulations will therefore require to adjust the application of the general provisions of the 1995 Regulations in relation to the sections of the road where buses are to be permitted to use the hard shoulder as a traffic lane.

It is intended that the hard shoulder will be available for use as a bus lane, by permitted buses, unless it is indicated by overhead gantry signing that use of the hard shoulder as a traffic lane is closed to through traffic. This will be indicated by means of a "red cross" sign. The aim is that the existing hard shoulder on the sections of the M9 Spur and M9 to which the 2012 Regulations will apply will become "an actively managed hard shoulder", operating as a bus lane under normal circumstances but reverting to a hard shoulder if a "red cross" sign is displayed.

To support the continued use of hard shoulder as the bus lane, emergency refuge areas will be provided at discrete locations adjacent to the lane/hard shoulder. The 2012 Regulations will provide that wherever reasonably practicable, any traffic requiring to make use of the hard shoulder as a hard shoulder should be driven into an emergency refuge area. The emergency refuge areas will be indicated by signing.

This is part of the first scheme of its kind in Scotland and the development of the proposals has been subject to scrutiny by a Safety Management Steering Group which included officials from Transport Scotland's safety, standards and network operations sections and representatives of the Forth Replacement Crossing project team. To support safe and effective use of the lane and as directed by the Safety Management Steering Group, the 2012 Regulations will restrict use of the hard shoulder as a traffic lane to buses which can carry 24 or more seated passengers. This will control the number and type of buses that can use the bus lane and allow the operation of the bus lane to be monitored to ensure that it is operating safely and in accordance with the design of the bus lane. The Scottish Ministers will monitor the effectiveness of the operation of the lane and commit to making any necessary amendments to the 2012 Regulations to cater for buses which can carry a different number of passengers, including all buses, if it can be demonstrated that it will be safe and effective to do so.

Other classes of traffic will continue to be permitted to use the hard shoulder when it is being used as a bus lane consistent with the provisions of regulation 14 of the 1995 Regulations. Regulation 14 already makes exceptions in terms of allowing certain traffic to use a hard shoulder. This includes, for example, use by emergency vehicles or by other traffic in emergencies, construction traffic involved in working adjacent to the motorway etc. It is not intended that the 2012 Regulations will restrict the usage permitted by regulation 14 of the 1995 Regulations in any way.

The Scottish Ministers welcome as part of this consultation comment on the proposal to make the Regulations and in particular in relation to the bus lane provisions, and would welcome any specific reference to safety considerations by consultees in support of their comments. Consultation has been undertaken on previous variable speed limits and actively managed hard shoulder regulations for the M90, A823(M) and northern part of the M9 Spur and comments received during the consultation were considered when finalising those regulations. This is explained in the consultation report referred to previously. The Scottish Ministers are content if parties who provided a response to the consultation on the previous regulations provide similar feedback to the consultation on the 2012 Regulations. If parties intend to provide similar comments, although not necessary, the Scottish Ministers would be grateful if respondents could consider if there is any additional information that they can provide in support of their comments.