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Huge stretches of North East motorway could be placed under “tunnels” under plans to clean up the air by busy roads.

Highways England says it is looking into the possibility of placing canopies around motorways to soak up fumes.

In its report, Highways England 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”.

The scheme has already been trialled along a 100 metre stretch of the M62, and the agency is testing a material which can clean the air.

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

If the trial is successful, tunnels could be rolled out across the network.

The Government has given Highways England £100m to improve air quality by 2021, with pollution linked to 40,000 premature deaths every year in the UK.

Highways England’s emission busting plan includes a target to place charging points for electric cars at 20 mile intervals along 95% of the motorway network.

The report also said that diesel HGVs are the biggest contributors to roadside nitrogen dioxide, a major cause of respiratory diseases.

It said: “Emissions from diesel vehicles are a significant contributor to the poor air quality at the roadside.”

In its clean air plan, the Government set out plans to fund measures to cut pollution with a tax on new diesel vehicles, with an aim to end the sale of all conventional petrol and diesel cars by 2040.