Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect on levels of congestion at the Dartford Crossing after the construction of the proposed new Lower Thames Crossing.

Through traffic modelling and forecasting Highways England has made an assessment of the scheme’s potential effect on levels of congestion at the Dartford Crossing. This is reported in section 4 of the Post-Consultation Scheme Assessment Report Volume 5.

https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/cip/lower-thames-crossing-consultation/supporting_documents/PostConsultation%20Scheme%20Assessment%20Report%20Volume%205.pdf

As the detailed design for the scheme progresses this will be subject to further assessment and an enhanced traffic model is being developed incorporating the latest travel demand data. This will be used to produce revised traffic volume and congestion forecasts for the local and wider road network, including the Dartford Crossing.