The building of new smart motorways is being cancelled as Rishi Sunak acknowledged concerns about safety and cost. Fourteen planned smart motorways – including 11 that are already paused and three earmarked for construction – will be removed from government road building plans, given financial pressures and in recognition of the lack of public trust.
The Department for Transport said the construction of these schemes would have cost more than £1bn. But the department added that the construction of two stretches of smart motorway at junctions six to eight of the M56 and 21a to 26 of the M6 will continue as they are already more than three quarters complete.
Existing stretches will remain but be subjected to a safety refit so there are 150 more emergency stopping places across the network. Around 10 per cent of England’s motorway network is made up of smart motorways.
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They involve various methods to manage the flow of traffic, such as converting the hard shoulder into a live running lane and variable speed limits. But there have been long-standing safety fears following fatal incidents in which vehicles stopped in live lanes without a hard shoulder were hit from behind.
In January 2022, the government paused the expansion of motorways where the hard shoulder is used as a permanent live traffic lane. This was to enable five years of data to be collected to assess whether they are safe for drivers.
In his Tory leadership campaign last summer, Mr Sunak vowed to ban them. “All drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country,” the Prime Minister said.
“That’s why last year I pledged to stop the building of all new smart motorways, and today I’m making good on that promise. Many people across the country rely on driving to get to work, to take their children to school and go about their daily lives, and I want them to be able to do so with full confidence that the roads they drive on are safe.”
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “We want the public to know that this government is listening to their concerns. Today’s announcement means no new smart motorways will be built, recognising the lack of public confidence felt by drivers and the cost pressures due to inflation.”
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