highways england The Lower Thames Crossing What do you think? ••.... • •I I !1 Contents Page Introduction 3 The Lower Thames 4 Crossing ~ - - ............................................................................................................................................................................... Why build a new crossing? 5 ~: ..................................................................................................................................................................... The route 8 _-b.··. Listening to people 11 Building the crossing 15 The cost 16 Have your say 17 For more information 20 2 Introduction Highways England is thinking of building a new motorway between Kent and Essex. highways england Highways England is a government company that looks after England's motorways and main roads. This will help traffic move between Kent and Essex and around the South East of England. We want to know what you think. Please read through this report and tell us your views. You can find out how to give us your views on page 17. 3 The Lower Thames Crossing The Lower Thames Crossing The Lower Thames Crossing is a proposed new motorway between the M2 and A2 junction in Kent, through a new tunnel under the River Thames to join the M25 in Essex. It is the largest new road project in the UK since the M25 was completed, 30 years ago. The tunnel under the Thames will be the longest road tunnel in the country. 4 Why build a new crossing? The new crossing will be 7 miles away from the Dartford Crossing. There are problems with the Dartford Crossing: • It often has too much traffic There are many stoppages caused • by breakdowns or bumps It can take up to 5 hours for the • roads to clear after a stoppage The tunnel is 50 years old 50 • 5 Quicker journeys The new crossing would help traffic around Kent, Thurrock and Essex. It will cut traffic jams around the Dartford Crossing. It would mean nearly twice as much traffic can cross the Thames. It will take many large lorries off the Dartford Crossing which will ease traffic there. I . 6 A better future The Lower Thames Crossing will help to connect communities. It will help people get to jobs, shops and leisure facilities on both sides of the river. 7 The route South of the river in Kent There will be a new junction that links the M2, A2 and the Lower Thames Crossing close to Thong and Gravesend. I There will be a new road from the junction to the new tunnel. The new road will be in a cutting so you won’t be able to see it from a distance. A cutting is where rocks and soil are removed for a road to go below the ground level. 8 The Tunnel On the south side the tunnel entrance will be close to Chalk. There will be 2 tunnels next to each other. One will take traffic from South to North. The other will take traffic from North to South. On the North side the tunnel entrance will be near East Tilbury Marshes. There might be a new rest and service area between West Tilbury and Chadwell St Mary. A13 junction There will be a new junction so people can get on and off the motorway. 9 M25 junction We propose that the new motorway will join the M25 near North Ockenden. There will be a new motorway junction. M25 junction 29 There will also be some changes to junction 29 on the M25. The M25 will be widened here. There will be four lanes in each direction instead of 3. There will be new slip roads for traffic getting off and on the motorway here. 10 Listening to people We have been talking to local communities about our ideas. We think that it is important to make sure that: -• We protect people's health -• The new road is not too noisy • There is not too much pollution in - the air We are looking at how local people are affected. We want to make sure that local communities are not affected too much. 11 Walkers, cyclists and horse riders The new road will cross some footpaths, bridle paths and cycleways. We will build bridges so that people can still get around. We will make any new routes look as good as possible. Landscape We want to make sure that the new road does not spoil the landscape too much. We plan to: • Plant trees to shield the road. - Trees and bushes will help to hide the road and make it less noisy • Keep the road as low as possible - so that you can’t see or hear it from a distance 12 Protecting the environment We are looking at how the new road will affect the environment. We need to know what we can do so that the local environment is affected as little as possible. We are particularly looking at: • Protecting people's health Making sure the new road is not • too noisy Making sure there is not too much • pollution in the air • The effect on old buildings, • monuments, historical sites, parks and gardens • Wild plants, birds and animals • Plants and creatures that live in • the river 13 • Making sure the new road does • not interfere with the water supply • How the new road may affect the • quality of the soils and local rock • How the building work will affect • the local environment • How the waste from the building • work will be dealt with • How the plans affect local people • and communities • How the new road will affect the • climate 14 Building the crossing It will take 6 years to build the crossing. If we get permission to build the crossing we would hope to :. •' ., ), i .. start in 2021. 2027 We would complete the work in 2027. Most of the work would be between 8am and 6pm on weekdays. 6 On Saturdays it would be between 8am and 4pm. 4 The work on the tunnel would be all day and all night. •~ ~ ••, ' . , . .: • · , I ·• . I. .. f~.- ~ . • ~ ~ The building work will affect local I t .,•~ •, ' = . _ -·~i • > .• -:. roads. • . :Y . ~ - , · ' ~ · We will make sure that the building work has a small effect on the local environment as possible. 15 The cost We think that it will cost about £6 billion to build the new crossing. £6 billion We think that the new crossing will be good value for money. It will bring shorter journeys and fewer delays. Charges Drivers will have to pay to use the new crossing. We are looking at fair ways to charge people. We may use a similar way of charging as we use on the Dartford Crossing. 16 Have your say We want to know what you think. You can give us your views by filling in our form and posting it free of charge to FREEPOST LTC CONSULTATION. fl. highwavs You can get one of these by: .7 engiand , • Picking one up at one of the events Downloading one from • www.lowerthamescrossing.co.uk/ haveyoursay Emailing us at: • [email protected] • Telephone: 0300 123 5000 You can also fill in the form online at: www.lowerthamescrossing.co.uk/ haveyoursay or email your comments to [email protected] 17 What’s next? We will write our final plans in 2019. These will take into account what people say on the form. The Government’s Planning Inspectorate will look at the plans. They will give people another chance to have a say on the plans. In 2020 the Planning Inspectorate will write their report which explains what they they think about the plans. 18 The plans and the report will go to the Secretary of State for Transport. The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the government who is responsible for all transport in the country. ~. i. ), ~ \ ,, The Secretary of State has 3 months to make their final decision. This will 2021 be in 2021. 19 For more information • If you need more information please l contact us by: Telephone: 0300 123 5000 Email: [email protected] Twitter: @lowerthames Easy read by easy-read-online.co.uk 20.