Strategic Transport Priorities Briefing

Tees Valley Strategic Transport Priorities Briefing

1. Economic Rationale

1.1 The Independent Economic Review, commissioned by Transport for the North (TfN) and due for publication imminently, defines three growth scenarios for the north of England, characterised by the graph below.

1.2 Across the North, the “Transformational” scenario would see a 5% increase in employment, an 8% increase in population, and a 15% increase in GVA. For the Tees Valley, “Transformational” means 25,000 new jobs, 23,000 new homes and a £1 billion increase in GVA. These numbers are embedded in our refreshed Strategic Economic Plan (SEP), and represent the levels of growth that our future transport network needs to accommodate.

1.3 The Independent Economic Review also identified four prime capabilities of the north of England – Advanced Manufacturing, Energy, Health innovation, and Digital – that are seen as imperative to deliver the Transformational growth scenario within the graph above. These are supported by three enabling capabilities – Financial and Professional Services, Logistics, and Further and Higher Education.

1.4 The Tees Valley’s growth sectors cover all of these capabilities right across the City Region, as shown on the plan overleaf (with prime or enabling capabilities shown in yellow highlights). The City Region has world-class expertise and critical mass sectors such as chemicals, energy, advanced manufacturing (particularly oil and gas, metals and automotive) and logistics, with growing capability in new industries - biologics, subsea, digital/creative and the low carbon economy. It is also home to Teesport, the largest exporting port in the UK. All of these growth sectors need effective and reliable multi-modal transport connections.

2. Emerging Strategic Transport Plan

2.1 The Tees Valley lies at an important axis of north-south and east-west transport routes that serve the local, regional, Northern and national economies – the A1 Great North Road, the A19 via the Tyne Tunnel, the A66 trans-Pennine route, the East Coast Main Line and the River Tees itself. Teesport, the third largest port in the UK, acts as a major international gateway, and Durham Tees Valley Airport connects the Tees Valley to its global trading partners. The wider highway network context, and these important international gateways, is shown below.

2.2 Following on from the publication of the refreshed SEP, the new Tees Valley Combined Authority will be publishing a framework for its new Strategic Transport Plan in Autumn 2016. The Plan is intended to complement the work being done by TfN to develop an investment plan for transport across the North, in line with the development of the next five year national rail and road programmes. As such, it is recognised that the Plan needs to:

 be informed by the National Rail and Road Network connections and use transport as an Engine for Growth;  maximise the opportunities afforded by committed/planned investment in the National Networks;  achieve frequent and reliable multi-modal connections between our Strategic Centres;  enhance connections to our Economic Assets (eg Teesport, Durham Tees Valley Airport, Enterprise Zones);  inform the connections from Local Hubs into the Strategic Centres and Economic Assets; and, ultimately,  facilitate “Transformational” growth.

2.3 The emerging framework for the Plan, and its relationship in particular to delivery routes and key partners, is illustrated below, through five “stepping stones” to success:

2.4 The list of priority projects in the framework also includes mention of the four strategic priorities for transport investment that were stated in the Tees Valley Devolution Deal, signed in October 2015, and have been re-iterated in the refreshed SEP. The four priorities are:

 Darlington station to be HS2 ready, with new platforms and links to adjacent developments;  An additional crossing of the River Tees;  Improved east-west road connectivity from the A1(M) to the international gateway at Teesport; and  Electrification of the Northallerton to Teesport rail line to improve freight to Teesport and passenger services to Middlesbrough.

2.5 All of the four priorities offer pan-Northern benefits and deliver better connectivity between the North’s key economic assets. Indeed, the Devolution Deal also included the statement that the Government committed “to facilitate to ensure key strategic infrastructure projects are considered as part of the development of the Northern Transport Strategy”.

2.6 Since the signing of the Devolution Deal, we have been working with TfN to understand where the priorities are likely to sit within the development of a Northern Transport Strategy (NTS) by March 2017. In relation to TfN’s current workstreams, the table below shows our interpretation of the current position.

NTS Element Tees Valley Strategic Transport Priorities

Northern Powerhouse Darlington Station Growth Hub – essential re- Rail/HS2 modelling of track and platforms as part of a commercial-led gateway National Road and Rail New River Tees Crossing – extension to the current Programmes RIS1 Norton to Wynyard widening scheme

Northallerton to Teesport Electrification – extension to the current CP5/6 North Transpennine electrification scheme East-West Road Connectivity – complete a high quality, reliable route from the A1(M) to Teesport

Strategic Local A66 Local Road Access to Teesport Connectivity Middlesbrough Station

Local Rail Improvements

2.7 We will be playing a full and active part in each of the TfN work programmes over the next nine months leading to the publication of the investment plan that will form the basis of the NTS in March 2017. The Tees Valley is a city region and can add to the NTS in own right, adding value to the original core city principles set out in the One North report. To demonstrate this, we have already commissioned additional development work on the four strategic transport priorities, and the following sections of this note include some more detail on the progress with each.

3. Darlington Station Growth Hub

3.1 Darlington has a major role to play in the economic growth of the North as a “touch point” for the planned HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) networks. One of the 12 Tees Valley Enterprise Zone sites, Central Park, home to the National Biologics Centre, is adjacent to the station, and its location was influenced by the national connectivity afforded by the East Coast Main Line (ECML).

3.2 Darlington station is the Tees Valley's gateway to the national rail network and has some fine architecture inside and out, and a sweeping roof. Yet it also has a concrete overbridge exposed to the elements save for opaque plastic cladding, late 20th Century infill buildings that mean the roof height is lower and an entrance portico fronting towards the town centre that is used as a short stay car park, as shown in the photographs below. It is not a suitable 21st Century rail gateway.

3.3 Investment in stations along the ECML has concentrated on other locations such as Doncaster, York and Newcastle. Recent track capacity investment on the ECML has been made to overcome capacity problems at Peterborough and Doncaster, although there is a looming problem at Darlington that could severely restrict the number of trains that could run on this section of the line beyond current timetable commitments. Network Rail is already acknowledging that there is a need to do something at Darlington in the early part of the next decade, as shown below.

3.4 Enhancements at Darlington should not be just about platforms. There are major commercial and regeneration opportunities at and around this station growth hub. A holistic redevelopment scheme at Darlington is needed to realise the opportunities afforded by the transformational rail packages of HS2 and NPR.

3.5 Darlington Borough Council has been working with the Tees Valley Combined Authority, the Local Enterprise Partnership, Transport for the North, and Network Rail on a Masterplan for the Darlington Station Growth Hub, to be launched in Summer 2016. The Masterplan embraces the requirements of the future national and local networks within the context of a commercial-led gateway, as illustrated below.

3.6 The Growth Hub proposals have the opportunity to deliver 2,000 net direct jobs at full impact, 1,100 indirect jobs at full impact, £130 million annual GVA at 2038, and £939 million (discounted) net lifetime GVA. The estimated cost of the scheme is £106 million. Commitment to the scheme within CP6 will allow the track and platform works to progress to the next GRIP stage. This is the catalyst to deliver the regeneration opportunities.

4. New River Tees Crossing

4.1 At the point where it crosses the River Tees, the A19 carries 96,000 vehicles per day. The A1(M) only carries 43,000 vehicles at the same point, emphasising the critical nature of the A19 trunk road to the Tees Valley economy, providing links to the North East and Leeds city regions. 11 of the 12 Tees Valley Enterprise Zone sites lie within 20 minutes’ drive of the A19.

4.2 The A19 has been identified as a new high quality strategic route – an “expressway” – by Highways England, and there has been recent investment in two Pinch Point junction improvement schemes at the A19/A174 Parkway and A19/A689 Wynyard junctions. The first Roads Investment Strategy (RIS1) includes a scheme to widen the A19 to three lanes in each direction between Norton and Wynyard, alongside the replacement of life-expired concrete carriageway.

4.3 As well as performing a strategic function, the A19 also connects the key centres of the commuting population in the Tees Valley and the North East and therefore accommodates a large number of short urban trips. The dual role that the A19 expressway is currently performing, impacts upon the ability of the route to function in its strategic capacity, and adds to the congestion and road safety problems at the existing Tees Viaduct section, which is just north of the A19's interchange with the A66 trunk road, as shown below.

4.4 The section of the A19 over the Tees Viaduct is only two lanes wide, with a weaving section over the Viaduct itself, and no hard strip or hard shoulder. This section, and the approaches to it, regularly suffers from stationary traffic, as shown in the photographs below.

4.5 As a result, the A19 Tees Viaduct currently acts as a constraint on the strategic road network which, unless resolved, will stifle the Tees Valley’s economic growth ambitions. The issues of congestion and unreliability will only increase with the opening of the RIS1 Norton-Wynyard improvement scheme, meaning that the full benefits of this significant expenditure on the route will not be realised. There is therefore a need to provide additional road crossing capacity over the River Tees (likely to be a new bridge) to ensure that the A19 trunk road meets Highway England’s and TfN’s “mile per minute” objective for expressways.

4.6 A “Task and Finish” Group, comprising representatives from Highways England, Tees Valley Combined Authority, Middlesbrough Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, was established to carry out a detailed analysis of potential crossing options. A long list of 14 potential alignments for a new crossing was agreed by the Group, and these options were tested using the Tees Valley strategic transport model to assess how much relief each option will provide to the existing A19 Tees Viaduct.

4.7 Four options were identified as meriting further detailed modelling assessment, based on the level of congestion relief they provide to the existing Tees Viaduct section of the A19. These four options lie on alignments close to, or relatively close to, the existing crossing.

4.8 The shortlisted options have recently been subjected to further development work to confirm (or otherwise) their engineering feasibility. This feasibility work has been funded by Highways England, emphasising the importance attached to addressing this strategic network constraint whilst developing the detailed design for the RIS1 Norton to Wynyard improvement.

4.9 The design development indicates that all options are considered viable in terms of their inherent geometric components. The results of the work undertaken to date do not show that there is one preferred option in engineering terms and further work is required to establish the benefits, costs and engineering feasibility in more detail. More importantly, it clearly shows that any of the four options are deliverable in engineering terms, giving confidence in the ultimate buildability of the selected schemes and the ability to provide any solution in conjunction with the committed RIS1 Norton to Wynyard improvement scheme.

4.10 As part of TfN’s work on Strategic Local Connectivity, a new crossing of the River Tees was categorised as a “TfN Supported” intervention, for implementation between 2021 and 2025. It is the only intervention on the North’s strategic road network outside of the major studies being taken forward by TfN that is included within this categorisation at this time, emphasising the strategic importance of the A19 to the economy of the North and the need to address the current pinch point at the Tees Viaduct section.

4.11 The initial feasibility work on the four shortlisted options suggests that the cost of the two most promising options will be between £122 million and £294 million. An initial TUBA run of the two most promising options gives BCRs of above 2 for both (one option is showing an initial BCR of around 7), which demonstrates high value for money, as defined by HM Treasury.

4.12 A bid for development funding for the production of an Outline Business Case (OBC) for the scheme was submitted to DfT under the Large Local Major Transport Schemes Fund call in May 2016. The Tees Valley Combined Authority has already agreed a 25% contribution to the next stage of work required, leading to the preparation of an OBC by October 2017. At present, scheme completion is anticipated in 2022/23.

5. East-West Connectivity

5.1 The A66 is the principal trans-Pennine route north of the M62, connecting the M6, the A1(M) and the UK’s third largest port at Teesport. East-west route connectivity is particularly critical for access to Teesport and Durham Tees Valley Airport, providing international connectivity and opening up logistics, freight, container market and aviation-related opportunities for businesses in the Tees Valley and to attract global investment. The route is also an important link for the chemicals and energy companies located at Wilton, and for a number of the Tees Valley’s Enterprise Zones.

5.2 However, the A66 is only part of the Strategic Road Network (SRN) up to the A19 – onward access to Teesport is via the local highway network, operated and maintained by Middlesbrough Council and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. The route between the A1(M) and one of the North’s key economic assets at Teesport is of variable standard, reliability and resilience, and needs a holistic improvement if it is to support the planned economic growth along the corridor. Current problems and issues are concentrated in the areas described in below and shown on the following plan.

5.3 Junction 57 of the A1(M) has no north facing slip roads to or from the A66. This means any traffic wanting to access the Tees Valley City Region from the north must use the local road network and leave the SRN via Junctions 58, 59 or 60. This results in strategic traffic causing significant stress on the local road network in Darlington, particularly the A1150 and the A67, which are of an inappropriate standard for the types of vehicles likely to use the route. The configuration of Junction 57 is therefore viewed by the Tees Valley Combined Authority and businesses as a key transport problem on the SRN, compromising economic growth and Darlington Borough Council is currently working with DfT on short term solutions on the A68 through the DfT’s Housing and Growth Fund.

5.4 The A66(M) and A66 from Junction 57 of the A1(M) to the A1150 at Little Burdon is comprised of 12.3km of primarily single carriageway road, with a short section of two

lane motorway between the A1(M) and the A66 Blackwell roundabout. From the Blackwell roundabout, the route is single carriageway with five at-grade roundabouts of varying standard and size, before it becomes dual carriageway to the east of the A1150 Little Burdon roundabout. Delays at these at-grade roundabouts often occur at peak times, particularly where there are significant traffic demands across the A66, at Blackwell roundabout and the A67 Yarm Road. The improvement of links and junctions on this section has been a long term ambition for Darlington Borough Council, and a joint study with Highways England has been commissioned to look at solutions.

5.5 The section of the A66 east of Darlington has a number of future issues and acts as a general constraint to future housing development across the southern part of Stockton and in Thornaby. Long term traffic forecasts indicate that additional junction and mainline capacity will be required to meet the development needs and aspirations of the City Region and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.

5.6 East of the A19 on the local road network section of the route, peak hour congestion is experienced at the at-grade roundabout of the A66 and the A171 at Cargo Fleet, despite a recent scheme to signalise the roundabout. The geometry and size of the Teesport access roundabout makes some manoeuvres for HGVs difficult and potentially dangerous.

5.7 The importance of the route to Teesport, and the existing inconsistencies in standard, reliability and resilience, has been recognised by Highways England, who commissioned a study into the need for improvements along the route jointly with the Tees Valley Combined Authority, in Spring 2015.

5.8 In addition to Highways England’s recognition of the strategic importance of the route, TfN also highlighted the need to consider the outcomes of the aforementioned commission as part of its North Trans Pennine Routes Study into improvements on the A66 between the M6 and the A1(M). Whilst it is recognised why the scope of the TfN study has concentrated on the central section of the A66, it was made clear in TfN’s March 2016 Northern Transport Strategy Update report that there is a need to consider the route in a holistic way, drawing in the work already done by Highways England and the Tees Valley Combined Authority.

5.9 The Stage 2 Report for the Highways England/Tees Valley Combined Authority commission was published in April 2016 and identified outline solutions where improvements are required along the A66 in the four areas described previously. As well as a new all moves junction at Junction 57 of the A1(M), the Stage 2 Report also includes a new dual carriageway link around the north of Darlington (approximately 7.2km in length), from Junction 59 of the A1(M) to the A66/A1150 roundabout to accommodate strategic traffic movements north of Darlington.

5.10 To follow on from the completion of the Stage 3 Report of the Highways England/Tees Valley Combined Authority commission, due in July 2016, the Tees Valley Combined Authority has committed further funds to undertake a more detailed examination of the strategic link to the north of Darlington and the section of the A66 to the east of the A19 (that is, the local highway network section), with the aim of using complementary funding from the Large Local Major Transport Schemes Fund to provide a holistic scheme OBC all the way from the A1(M) to the international gateway at Teesport.

5.11 A bid for development funding to the Large Local Major Transport Schemes Fund will be made in July 2016, with the expectation that an OBC will be prepared for the holistic scheme by March 2018. The outputs from the Stage 2 Report will be fed into the North Transpennine Routes Study at the next Stakeholder Reference Group meeting.

6. Northallerton to Teesport Electrification

6.1 The current gauge clearance on the rail line between Northallerton and Middlesbrough/Teesport requires freight traffic from Teesport to/from the south to make a reversing manoeuvre at Darlington, which is time consuming and places a limit on train path availability. This situation exacerbates the capacity problems at Darlington station, described previously.

6.2 Supporting the ongoing development of Teesport as a truly international freight gateway for the north of England is vital for the Tees Valley and the Northern economy. PD Ports has worked over the last 20 years to re-engineer their business into one that covers all types of port activity and recent investment will take the capacity of the port up to 650,000 TEU. The implementation of the Northern Gateway Terminal, which is due to start construction in 2018, and which will increase the capacity of Teesport to around 1.1 million TEU, will be a multi-million pound investment by PD Ports and could create up to 4,000 direct and indirect jobs across the Tees Valley.

6.3 The Northallerton to Middesbrough section of rail line is also excluded from the current plans to electrify the North Transpennine route, which stop at York and Selby, meaning that TransPennine Express services from Manchester Airport will not benefit from new fully electrified rolling stock in 2022, and may still require a change of trains in York.

6.4 However, this section of the rail line was identified in the Electrification Task Force’s Northern Sparks report in March 2015 as being in the First Tier of schemes for a rolling programme of future electrification works, as shown below.

6.5 At the same time as providing W12 gauge clearance, this last 25 miles of line could be electrified with significant benefits to passengers of the new TransPennine Express franchise. Extending the existing electrification works will cost around £70 million, but would generate over £120 million in economic benefit across the North.

6.6 Electrification would also facilitate track and platform re-modelling at Middlesbrough station, to allow more efficient use by long distance services, including new London trains by 2022, as recently confirmed by the Office of Road and Rail. Building on the work at Darlington, Middlesbrough Council is soon to develop a station masterplan aimed at maximising commercial opportunities in the vicinity of the station to provide a second rail gateway to the City Region.

7. Overcoming Barriers to Growth

7.1 As part of the Strategic Transport Plan, the Tees Valley Combined Authority will continue to build a detailed database of all predicted future housing and employment developments across the City Region. This will allow us to identify future pinch points on the transport network through strategic modelling, known as the Area Action Plan.

7.2 More importantly, it will also allow us to identify and prioritise transport projects which will overcome these barriers to growth and will facilitate development and economic and housing growth as outlined in the SEP. This approach lies at the heart of our approach to our current and future Local Growth Fund programmes, and will inform the future use of the Tees Valley Investment Fund.

8. Connecting Centres and Developing Sustainable Supporting Networks

8.1 As well as the four strategic transport priorities, connecting our five strategic centres, economic assets (Teesport, Durham Tees Valley Airport and Enterprise Zones) and key health, employment, education and retail locations by a frequent, high quality and integrated public transport network is vital for the City Region to function effectively.

8.2 Station improvements at Darlington and Middlesbrough will allow increased frequencies and new stops along the local rail network to be considered as part of the next Northern franchise, working in partnership with Rail North. We envisage the Tees Valley Investment Fund being the most appropriate means of enabling some of these enhancements, working in partnership with franchisees. The Tees Valley has a strong recent record in rail delivery with nearly £10 million of Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) money invested in upgrades at all local stations and in the construction of the first new station (James Cook) in the area for nearly 20 years. The creation of the North East Rail Management Unit as part of the new Northern franchise will now provide a good opportunity to continue this focus on local rail.

8.3 The Tees Valley Devolution Deal also identified a need to consider suitable future mechanisms for ensuring that there is a sustainable bus network across the City Region that will support our future growth aspirations. The Tees Valley has a good track record with the delivery of bus measures, shown by the £57 million Tees Valley Bus Network Improvements (TVBNI) project. Not only was this project, consisting mainly of bus priority and passenger facility improvements across around 20 corridors all over the Tees Valley delivered on budget, the improvements in bus journey quality and reliability, coupled with the complementary investment in vehicles made through a Quality Partnership, has resulted in passenger satisfaction being at its highest recorded level since Transport Focus has been undertaking its surveys in the area.

8.4 Looking forward, the recently published Bus Services Bill gives the Tees Valley Combined Authority, and its partners, the chance to examine the wider range of delivery mechanisms available and determine which is the most appropriate for the City Region in the future, based on an objective assessment of need. This work will be undertaken in Autumn 2016 and a recommendation on the preferred delivery mechanism will be made to the Tees Valley Combined Authority by the end of the year.

8.5 Finally, the Tees Valley Combined Authority will continue its work to date on developing walking and cycling network that link housing sites to key attractors across the area, particularly following the recent award of DfT Access transition funding to the City Region. This builds on existing successful programmes across the Tees Valley funded by the LSTF and the Tees Valley Local Growth Fund.