Fresh upgrades for smart motorways announced

National Highways has revealed that a further 11 sections of smart motorway will be upgraded, adding extra places to stop in an emergency,

The Government has already cancelled plans for any new smart motorways, citing cost pressures and the lack of confidence felt by some drivers, earlier this year.

It also promised to build more than 150 additional emergency areas on all lane running (ALR) motorways across the country by 2025, part of a £900 million investment in further safety improvements on existing smart motorways.

In a new report published by National Highways, it reveals that an additional five emergency areas have already been added on the M6 in Staffordshire and a further eight on the M1 in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.

In June, work also began on more than doubling the number of emergency areas on the M1 in South Yorkshire between junctions 32 and 35a.

Now, a further 11 locations have been announced for additional emergency areas on the M1, M3, M4, M5, M6, M20, M25 and M27.

National Highways chief executive, Nick Harris, said: “Safety is our highest priority and we are committed to further improving all lane running motorways.

We have completed key upgrades to improve the performance of technology to detect stopped vehicles, and today we have set out the next sections of motorway to benefit from the programme to install more than 150 extra emergency areas to give drivers added reassurance.

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