The UK's first motorway car share lane was opened today by Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, giving drivers a new opportunity to cut both their journey times and carbon footprints.

The 1.7-mile lane, built by the Highways Agency, links the southbound M606 near Bradford to the eastbound M62 towards Leeds. It is open to cars and taxis with two or more occupants, as well as buses and coaches, and bypasses the notoriously congested section where the two motorways merge. The new lane will save road users an average of six to eight minutes per journey - 30-40 minutes per week for regular commuters.

Ruth Kelly said:

"This new lane offers motorists the opportunity to reduce both their journey times and their carbon footprints. Currently, four out of five vehicles using this busy junction have only one occupant. I hope this new lane will encourage people to share their journeys, which will ease congestion, cut journey times and improve local air quality.

"The Government is committed to finding innovative ways to get more from our existing roads and improving journeys for motorists. We have identified around 500 miles of motorway as potential priority sites for new traffic management measures, which may also include more car share lanes."

The lane will allow vehicles on the M606 to bypass congestion at J26 of the M62 and gain priority entry on to the eastbound M62, which is a busy commuter route for motorists driving from Bradford towards Leeds. As the new lane creates extra capacity, other vehicles on the M606 and M62 could also benefit from improved journey times.

It is open to cars, vans and taxis with two or more occupants. Minibuses, coaches and buses can also use the lane and motorcyclists will also be able to use it whether carrying passengers or not.

The project has been funded by the Northern Way economic development partnership who are supporting improvements to the transport infrastructure that will assist economic growth across the north of England.

John Jarvis, Northern Way Transport Project Director, said:

"We are already suffering high levels of congestion on the North's motorways especially around our city regions where the motorways cater for long distance traffic and the needs of our resurgent city economies. If we can encourage greater levels of car sharing through the provision of dedicated lanes at suitable locations it will help lock in the benefits of additional road capacity and be good for the economy and the environment."

The lane can be used by vehicles 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will be enforced by West Yorkshire Police.

The new lane has been constructed on the hard shoulder of the M606 and M62 eastbound slip road, connected by a short stretch of new carriageway. New lay-by areas have been provided as an emergency refuge facility for broken-down vehicles in place of the hard shoulder.

Notes to Editors
1. Work on the car share lane began in October 2007. The contractor was Balfour Beatty supervised by Carillion WSP. It has been completed on time and on budget.

2. The lane will not be open to HGVs, but the extra capacity means they could benefit from reduced traffic flows in other lanes.

3. The Northern Way brings together the cities and regions of the North of England to work together to improve the sustainable economic development of the North. It is formed as a partnership between the three northern Regional Development Agencies (Yorkshire Forward, Northwest Regional Development Agency and One NorthEast).

4. The Advanced Motorway Signalling and Traffic Management Feasibility study examined the feasibility, costs and benefits of more widespread application of traffic management techniques such as using the hard shoulder as an extra lane during busy periods to cut congestion on the motorway network. Its conclusions were announced by Ruth Kelly on 4th March. Around 500 miles of motorway (800 lane kilometres or 400 route kilometres in both directions) were identified as possible candidates for hard shoulder running schemes. The study also found that the gantries and technology used to implement hard shoulder running could also support various forms of lane reservation, including car share lanes.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the European Commission have launched a new joint research project aimed at deepening their understanding of how alliances have affected competition in transatlantic markets and the potential impact of the new U.S.-EU Air Transport Open Skies Agreement set to begin this month.

The U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement, which will for the first time allow EU and U.S. airlines to serve any route between Europe and the United States, calls for developing a common understanding of trends in the airline industry in order to promote compatible approaches on competition issues.

The Commission and DOT will interview airlines, travel agents, industry analysts, and consumer groups, as well as perform quantitative analysis on air traffic data. The research project will ultimately enable the Commission and DOT to develop a common understanding of competition in trans-Atlantic markets and to inform public discussions of the future of air transportation.

When the National Threat Level is raised to Code Orange, the following steps should be taken:

On the Road:

* Be alert when driving. Look for vehicles following you, especially if there are 3 or more people in the car. If you believe you are being followed, call your dispatcher or 911 immediately.
* When leaving your facility, be aware of any possible surveillance of your facility or your truck.
* Don't discuss your cargo, destination, or trip specifics with people you don't know or on open channels.
* When stopped at a traffic light or in traffic, be aware of anyone approaching your vehicle.
* Make sure you have communication devices to contact your dispatcher and emergency officials. Carry a back-up if possible.

Stopping at Facilities:

* Leave your truck in a secure parking lot or truck stop if possible; if not, be certain someone can watch your vehicle.
* Never leave your vehicle running with the keys in it; shut off the engine and lock the doors.
* If possible, don't stop in unsafe or high-crime areas.
* Use seals or other methods to prevent and identify tampering.
* Don't preload hazardous materials shipments without adequate security.

Protecting Your Vehicle:

* Use an engine kill switch
* Use tractor and trailer brake locking devices
* Check your electronic tracking system regularly and notify your dispatcher when it's not working or tampering may have occurred.
* If you drop a trailer, use a fifth wheel lock whenever possible.
* Perform a quick walk-around to check your vehicle for foreign objects after all stops.

WASHINGTON - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) today announced a new canine program to enhance explosives detection capabilities in air cargo facilities nationwide. The launch of this program marks the first time that TSA is training its own employees to be explosives detection canine handlers.

The agency will train and certify more than 400 explosives detection canine teams, composed of one dog and one handler, during the next two years. Eighty-five of these teams will be TSA employee-led and will primarily search cargo bound for passenger-carrying aircraft. The first TSA teams began training in January and graduated today after a 10-week training course at Lackland AFB, San Antonio. The teams are expected to be fully operational this Summer.

TSA handlers will be non-law enforcement employees and will complement the 496 TSA-certified state and local law enforcement teams currently deployed to 70 airports and 14 mass transit systems. The new teams will enhance flexibility in the air cargo environment and allow TSA to surge resources when there is a heightened threat in any transportation system.

"Canine teams are one of the quickest, most efficient means of detecting explosives," said TSA Administrator Kip Hawley. "TSA teams provide flexibility in searching air cargo and the ability to surge resources when necessary."

The TSA teams will be deployed to airports with the greatest volume of cargo on passenger-carrying aircraft. The 12 teams graduating today will be deployed to: Dulles International, John F. Kennedy International, Los Angeles International and Miami International Airports.

In addition to these graduating TSA teams, approximately 315 TSA-certified local law enforcement teams will be trained and deployed during the next two years, raising the total TSA-certified canine explosive detection team population to more than 800 dogs. Complementing daily activities at airports and mass transit systems, law enforcement teams also participate in TSA's Visible Intermodal Protection Response (VIPR) program, providing critical capabilities and resources.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters today announced that the United States and Croatia concluded an Open-Skies agreement that will establish free trade in aviation services between the two countries. The aviation agreement is the first between the countries and comes after two days of negotiations in Zagreb, Croatia.

"This agreement continues our effort to improve transportation and trade ties with nations around the world that help our companies and our travelers," said Secretary Peters. "Today's agreement lays the groundwork for future air service between the United States and Croatia that will provide new options for travelers as well as economic benefits to both countries."

Under the new agreement, airlines from both countries will be allowed to select routes and destinations based on consumer demand, without limitations on the number of U.S. or Croatian carriers that can fly between the two countries or the number of flights they can operate. The agreement also contains no restrictions on capacity and pricing, and provides opportunities for cooperative marketing arrangements, including code-sharing, between U.S. and Croatian carriers.

The U.S.-Croatia agreement offers U.S. cargo carriers special benefits by allowing them to carry air cargo between Croatia and third countries without requiring a stop in the United States.

With this agreement, Croatia becomes the 91st U.S. Open-Skies partner. The agreement will take effect after it is signed.

Speed limits should promote safe travel, and should be perceived by the public as safe and reasonable. If the public does not understand the consequences of speeding to themselves and others, they are less likely to adjust speeds for traffic and weather conditions, or to comply with posted speed limits. This can place serious strains on the limited resources that are available for speed enforcement and on the relationship between the police and the public. Voluntary compliance with speed limits can also be improved through greater use of speed management devices and techniques that can be built into the existing highway system, as well as incorporated in the Intelligent Transportation System.


Objectives

* Develop speed zoning guidelines with the States and local entities to use in establishing safe and reasonable speed limits on their roadways through a multi-discipline team review of existing speed-setting criteria.
* Work with States and local governments to promote increased use of condition responsive speed and hazard warning systems that give motorists information on appropriate speeds for the prevailing environmental, traffic and roadway conditions.
* Encourage States and local governments to use speed zoning guidelines and, where appropriate, revise posted speed limits to reasonable levels, and/or adopt variable speed limits. Encourage States and local governments to increase the use of physical speed management and perceptual techniques (i.e., speed humps, rumble strips, pavement markings) in locations where speed has been shown to pose a serious hazard. Use of these countermeasures will vary by highway type.
* Encourage States and local governments to consider relevant design factors and design speed prior to changing posted speed limits. Many factors, such as congestion and environment, can impact speed limits.

This final rule reforms the structure of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program for light trucks and establishes higher CAFE standards for model year (MY) 2008-2011 light trucks. Manufacturers may comply with CAFE standards established under the reformed structure (Reformed CAFE) or with standards established in the traditional way (Unreformed CAFE) during a transition period of MYs 2008-2010. In MY 2011, all manufacturers will be required to comply with a Reformed CAFE standard. Under Reformed CAFE, fuel economy standards are restructured so that they are based on a measure of vehicle size called "footprint," the product of multiplying a vehicle's wheelbase by its track width. A target level of fuel economy is established for each increment in footprint. Smaller footprint light trucks have higher targets and larger ones, lower targets.

The safety of our Nation's highways is dependent upon the efficiency and effectiveness of the efforts of the entire highway safety community. In order to enable these professionals to maximize the impact of their effort to reduce motor vehicle crashes and the results of these crashes, NHTSA provides for the availability of training programs through the Transportation Safety Institute. These training courses enable Federal, state, and local highway safety professionals to perform at state-of-the-art levels in the enforcement of drunk driving laws; the design and management of highway safety programs; the delivery of emergency medical services; encouraging the use of safety belts, child safety seats, motorcycle and bicycle helmets and other safety systems; and to assist in training of other highway safety professionals to these levels of capability.

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