Prime minister Rishi Sunak has scrapped plans for new all-lane running smart motorways ‘given financial pressures and in recognition of the current lack of public confidence felt by drivers’.
Although Mr Sunak had pledged during last summer’s Tory leadership election to scrap the controversial format, the Government’s position until the weekend was that schemes were paused until five years of safety data had been analysed.
Schemes not being taken forward include 11 paused schemes from the current Road Investment Strategy (RIS 2: 2020 to 2025) and the three 3 earmarked for construction during RIS 3 (2025 to 2030).
The Government said that initial estimates suggested that new schemes would have cost more than £1bn, adding that cancelling them will allow more time to track public confidence in smart motorways over a longer period.
Mr Sunak said: ‘All drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country. 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.’
The Government said that it and National Highways would continue to spend £900m in ‘further’ safety improvements on existing smart motorways. However, this is old money announced in January 2022 alongside the pause.
It added that the M56 J6-8 and M6 J21a-26 will be completed given they are already over three quarters constructed.
The term smart motorway covers all lane running (ALR) schemes, where the hard shoulder has been permanently converted to a live lane; dynamic hard shoulder (DHS), where the hard shoulder is used as a running lane in busy times; and controlled motorways, where the hard shoulder remains but the same technology is used to manage traffic.
AA president Edmund King welcomed the move but repeated his call for the hard shoulder to be reinstated on existing all lane running smart motorways.
He said: ‘Basically drivers don't trust them, the technology is not foolproof, and 37% of breakdowns on smart motorways happen in live lanes. And basically, those drivers are sitting ducks.’
The RAC said the Government should consider converting ALR stretches to DHS.
Road safety spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘This is a watershed announcement and a victory for everyone who has campaigned against these motorways that, by their design, put drivers in more danger should they be unlucky enough to break down on one.’
The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) said that Mr Sunak had ‘recognised the importance of safe roads and acknowledged that without sufficient financial support smart motorways cannot be safe enough’.
Deputy executive director Margaret Winchcomb said: ‘Smart motorways have been controversial since their initiation. This has eroded public confidence in them. However, this also means that the benefits which could be gained from them have been lost.
‘Motorways, while not safe enough, are our safest roads. Other parts of the Strategic Road Network have much higher casualty rates per mile travelled.’
