Wide-open decision
Page 20
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k GOVERNMENT decision on the new road between Oxford Ind Birmingham can be expected soon, but it does not tutomatically mean that it will be a section of the M40.
Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Kenneth Clarke :old Members that the lecessary further studies had low been completed and he loped to announce the deci;ions on the standard and ;tatus of the new road in the 'ear future.
He agreed with Peter Fry Tory, Wellingborough) that he accident record of motorvays was much lower than hat of other major roads. But, ie added, the decision on the appropriate standard for the road had to be made in the light of traffic surveys and an economic analysis of the costs and benefits.
John Stokes (Tory, Halesowen and Stourbridge) suggested that it would be cheaper and generally more satisfactory if the M40 extension from Oxford to Birmingham was abandoned and the present main road between the two cities widened and improved, as on stretches of the Al.