Pollution Tunnels May Be Coming to a Motorway Near You

The government-owned company says it is “investigating if we can reduce the costs to construct a canopy, which is a tunnel-like structure designed to prevent vehicle emissions reaching our neighbours”. Air pollution is linked to around 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK.

The announcement follows last week’s news that the UK government will join Paris in banning new diesel and petrol vehicles from 2040 in a bid to tackle dangerous levels of air pollution and encourage people to buy electric cars.

Highways England previously installed pollution barriers in a trial scheme alongside the M62 near Manchester. The agency has now been given £100 million by the government to improve air quality through to 2021.